Maize inbred SG374

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides the inbred maize variety designated SG374 and relates to all plant parts and tissue cultures of variety SG374. The invention further encompasses methods for producing derivations of variety SG374 such as gene-edited plants, transgenically-modified plants or trait integrated plants, and to all plant parts and tissues derived from such methods. The invention further relates to maize seeds and plants produced by crossing inbred SG374 with itself, or with another maize plant. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic and/or genomic complements of variety SG374 plants, seeds, and tissues.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to the field of maize (Zea mays L.)breeding. Specifically, the invention relates to the maize inbredvariety SG374, as well as derivatives, hybrids, and tissue culturesthereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The goal of field crop breeding is to combine various desirable traitsin a single variety. Such desirable traits include greater harvestableyield, better stalks, better roots, resistance to insecticides,herbicides, pests, and disease, tolerance to heat and drought, reducedtime to crop maturity, better agronomic quality, higher nutritionalvalue, and uniformity in germination times, stand establishment, growthrate, maturity, and fruit size.

Corn is a monecious plant having separate male and female flowers on thesame plant. Male flowers that produce the pollen are located in thetassel at the top of the plant, while female flowers that produce ovulesand silks are located in the ear that develops from the axil of a leafand which generally is located near the middle of the stalk.

Corn breeding techniques take advantage of two methods of pollination;self-pollination and cross-pollination. A plant self-pollinates ifpollen from the tassel (male flower) of a plant falls upon the silks(female flower) of the same plant. A plant cross pollinates if pollenfrom one corn plant falls upon the silks of a different corn plant.Natural pollination occurs in a corn field when wind blows pollen fromthe tassels to the emerged silks that protrude from the tops of the earshoots. This natural or open pollination in a field results in the cornbeing mostly cross-pollinated as the wind is essential for good fieldpollinations. When breeding corn, the tassels and the silks are coveredby the breeder with bags to prevent uncontrolled self or crosspollinations. Pollinations for breeding purposes are always controlled.The initial pollination is made to allow specific genetics of one plantto be manually combined with the specific genetics of another plantthrough techniques in the art. Later generational pollinations are alsocontrolled either manually or by spatial separation to preserve or fixthe genetics initially made. Thus, the variety SG374 provided here is apurposeful invention created by careful and skillful planning andexecution of the breeding operations.

Corn plants that have been self-pollinated and selected for type overmany generations become homozygous at almost all gene loci and produce auniform population of true breeding progeny, a homozygous inbred plant.A cross between two genetically different such homozygous inbred plantsproduces a uniform population of hybrid plants that are heterozygous formany gene loci. Conversely, a cross of two (non-inbred) plants eachheterozygous at a number of loci produces a population of hybrid plantsthat differ genetically and are not uniform. The resultingnon-uniformity makes performance unpredictable.

Another method for developing uniform homozygous corn inbreds is throughuse of the Doubled Haploid methods. One such DH method comprisescontrolled cross pollination of the desired genetics with an inducerline, which following selection serves to develop a haploid populationof the desired genetics. Following the doubling procedure to developdiploid plants from the haploid plants, a population of uniformhomozygous inbred seed results.

The development of uniform corn plant hybrids requires the developmentof homozygous inbred plants, the crossing of these inbred plants, andthe evaluation of the crosses. Pedigree breeding and recurrent selectionare examples of breeding methods used to develop inbred plants frombreeding populations. Those breeding methods combine the geneticbackgrounds from two or more inbred plants or various other broad-basedsources into breeding pools from which new inbred plants are developedby selfing or DH methods, followed by selection of desired phenotypes.The new inbreds are crossed with other inbred plants and the hybridsfrom these crosses are evaluated to determine which of those havecommercial potential.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention, a novel maize (Zea mays L.) inbred varietydesignated SG374 is provided and processes for making SG374. Thisinvention relates to seed of maize variety SG374, to the plants of maizevariety SG374, to all plant parts of maize variety SG374, and toprocesses for making a maize plant that comprises crossing maize varietySG374 with another maize plant. This invention also relates to processesfor making a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or moretraits or alleles or genes introgressed into SG374 through backcrossconversion and/or transformation and/or gene-editing, and to the maizeseed, plant and plant parts produced thereby. This invention furtherrelates to a hybrid maize seed, plant or plant part produced by crossingthe variety SG374 or a locus conversion of SG374 with another maizevariety, or other derivations of, or from, variety SG374.

DEFINITIONS

Certain definitions used in the specification are provided below. Also,in the examples that follow, a number of terms are used herein. In orderto provide a clear and consistent understanding of the specification andclaims, including the scope to the given terms, the followingdefinitions are provided. These designators will follow the descriptorsto denote how the values are to be interpreted. Below also are thedescriptors used in the data tables included herein.

ABIOTIC STRESS TOLERANCE: Resistance to non-biological sources of stressconferred by traits such as nitrogen utilization efficiency, alterednitrogen responsiveness, drought resistance, cold or heat resistance,and salt resistance.

ALLELE: Any of one or more alternative forms of a genetic sequence for aparticular gene. In a diploid cell or organism, the two alleles of agiven sequence typically occupy corresponding loci on a pair ofhomologous chromosomes.

ALTER: The utilization of up-regulation, down-regulation, or genesilencing of an allele or gene.

ANC=ANTHER COLOR: Rated on a 1 to 9 Scale where 1 is green, 2 is yellow,3 is pink, 5 is red, 7 is dark red, and 9 is purple.

ANTHESIS: The time of a flower's opening; usually with respect to antherappearance due to glume opening.

ANTHRACNOSE STALK ROT (Colletotrichum graminicola): A 1 to 9 visualrating indicating the resistance to Anthracnose Stalk Rot. A higherscore indicates a higher resistance. Data are collected only whensufficient selection pressure exists in the experiment measured.

ANTIOXIDANT: A chemical compound or substance that inhibits oxidation,including but not limited to tocopherol or tocotrienols.

BACKCROSSING: Process in which a breeder crosses a hybrid progenyvariety back to one of the parental genotypes one or more times. Theparent used for backcrossing is referred to as the recurrent parent.

BACKCROSS PROGENY: Progeny plants produced by crossing SG374 with plantsof another maize line that comprise a desired trait or locus, selectingF1 progeny plants that comprise the desired trait or locus, and crossingthe selected F1 progeny plants with the SG374 plants one or more timesto produce backcross progeny plants that comprise said trait or locus.

BNP=BARREN PLANTS: The percent of plants per plot that were barren (lackears).

BRC=BRACE ROOT COLOR: A measure of the anthocyanin color intensity ofthe brace roots rated on a 1 to 4 scale where 1 is absent, 2 is faint, 3is moderate, and 4 is dark. Observed when well developed and fresh braceroots are present on 50% of plants.

BREEDING: The genetic manipulation of living organisms.

BREEDING CROSS: An initial cross to introduce new genetic material intoa plant for the development of a new variety. For example, one couldcross plant A with plant B, wherein plant B would be geneticallydifferent from plant A. After the breeding cross, the resulting F1plants could then be selfed or ribbed for one, two, three or more times(F1, F2, F3, etc.) until a new inbred variety is developed; or theresulting F1 or F2 breeding cross could be subjected to one of severalDoubled Haploid methods to develop a new uniform inbred variety.

BREEDING VALUE: A relative value determined by evaluating the progeny ofthe parent. For corn the progeny is often the F1 generation and theparent is often an inbred variety.

BSNP=BRITTLE SNAP PERCENTAGE: Also called Green Snap; the percentage ofplants showing pre-anthesis stalk breakage below the top ear node.Usually the result of a high damaging wind event.

CARBOHYDRATE: Organic compounds comprising carbon, oxygen and hydrogen,including sugars, starches and cellulose.

CBC=COB COLOR: A measure of the coloration of the cob rated on a 1 to 4scale where 1 is white, 2 is pink, 3 is red, 4 is dark red or other.

CBD=COB DIAMETER: Measured in mm as the width of the shelled cob at themid-point; between the tip and base of the cob.

CELL: A cell as used herein includes a plant cell, whether isolated intissue culture or incorporated in a plant or plant part.

COMMON SMUT: This is the percentage of plants infected with Common Smut.Data are collected only when sufficient selection pressure exists in theexperiment measured.

COMMON RUST (Puccinia sorghi): A 1 to 9 visual rating indicating theresistance to Common Rust. A higher score indicates a higher resistance.Data are collected only when sufficient selection pressure exists in theexperiment measured.

CROSSING: The combination of genetic material by traditional methodssuch as a breeding cross or backcross, but also including protoplastfusion and other molecular biology methods of combining genetic materialfrom two sources.

CROSS POLLINATION: Fertilization by the union of two gametes fromdifferent plants.

D and D1-Dn: represents various generations of doubled haploids.

DEP=DROPPED EARS: A measure of the number of dropped ears per plot andrepresents the percentage of plants with dropped ears prior to harvest.Data are collected only when sufficient selection pressure exists in theexperiment measured.

DH=DOUBLED HAPLOID: A homozygous and genetically stable diploid plantvariety developed through the use of one of several Doubled Haploidmethods as opposed to multiple generations of selfing to attain nearhomozygosity. A plant variety developed by going through haploidizationand then genome doubling.

DIPLODIA EAR MOLD SCORES (Diplodiamaydis and Diplodia macrospora): A 1to 9 visual rating indicating the resistance to Diplodia Ear Mold. Ahigher score indicates a higher resistance. Data are collected only whensufficient selection pressure exists in the experiment measured.

DIPLOID PLANT PART: Refers to a plant part or cell that has the samediploid genotype as SG374.

DIPROTEDIPLODLA STALK ROT SCORE: Score of stalk rot severity due toDiplodia (Diplodia maydis). Expressed as a 1 to 9 score with 9 beinghighly resistant. Data are collected only when sufficient selectionpressure exists in the experiment measured.

DROUGHT TOLERANCE: This represents a 1 to 9 rating for drought toleranceand is based on data obtained under stress conditions. A high scoreindicates good drought tolerance and a low score indicates poor droughttolerance. Data are collected only when sufficient selection pressureexists in the experiment measured.

EARLY STAND COUNT: This is a measure of the stand establishment in thespring and represents the number of plants that emerge on a per plotbasis for the inbred or hybrid.

EAR LEAF: The leaf attached to the stalk at the node where the highestsignificant ear develops.

EHT=EAR HEIGHT: A measure in cm from the ground to the highest developedear node.

ELL=EAR LEAF LENGTH: A measure in cm of the length of the ear leafblade.

EAR LEAF NODE: The node on the stalk from which the highest significantear develops and from which the ear leaf develops.

ELW=EAR LEAF WIDTH: A measure in cm of the width of the ear leaf bladeat the mid-point between the tip and the leaf collar.

ENDC=ENDOSPERM COLOR: A measure of the coloration of the kernelendosperm rated on a 1 to 3 scale where 1 is white, 2 is yellow, and 3is other.

ENDT=ENDOSPERM TYPE OR TYPE OF GRAIN: Observed in the middle of theuppermost ear at harvest. Rated as a 1 to 10 classification where 1 issweet (su1), 2 is extra sweet (sh2), 3 is normal starch, 4 is highamylose starch, 5 is waxy starch, 6 is high protein, 7 is high lysine, 8is super sweet (se), 9 is high oil, and 10 is other.

ERD=EAR DIAMETER: Measured in mm as the width of the ear at themid-point; between the tip and base of the ear.

ERKR=EAR KERNEL ROWS: The average number of kernels per row on the ear.

ERL=EAR LENGTH: Measured in cm the length from the ear tip to base.

ERP=EAR POSITION: Measured at the dry husk stage on a 1 to 3 scale where1 is upright, 2 is horizontal, and 3 is pendent.

ERPSTK=EARS PER STALK: The average number of ears on each plant orstalk. Secondary ears are defined as those with developed or developingkernels.

ERRD=EAR ROW DIRECTION: The kernel row alignment on a 1 to 3 scale where1 is straight, 2 is slightly curved, and 3 is spiral.

ERRI=EAR ROWS IDENTIFIABLE: The observation of the kernel rowidentification where 1 is indistinct and 2 is distinct.

ERRN=NUMBER OF ROWS OF KERNELS ON THE EAR: The number of rows of kernelson an ear; usually 12-18 rows.

ERT=EAR SHAPE (TAPER): The taper of the ear from base to tip on a 1 to 3scale where 1 is slight (cylindrical), 2 is average, and 3 is extreme(conical).

ERWT=EAR WEIGHT: The weight of the intact kernels plus cob measured ingrams.

ESSENTIAL AMINO ACIDS: Amino acids that cannot be synthesized by anorganism and therefore must be supplied in the diet.

EXPRESSING: With respect to a gene or allele that is partially or whollycausative of a particular measurable or visual phenotype. A situation orenvironmental setting whereby a phenotype is manifest on the plant.

EXTRACTABLE STARCH: Near-infrared transmission spectroscopy, NIT,prediction of extractable starch.

EYE SPOT (Kabatiella zeae or Aureobasidiumzeae): A 1 to 9 visual ratingindicating the resistance to Eye Spot. A higher score indicates a higherresistance. Data are collected only when sufficient selection pressureexists in the experiment measured.

F1 PROGENY: The progeny plants produced by crossing a plant of one maizevariety with a plant of another maize variety.

FATTY ACID: A carboxylic acid (or organic acid), often with a longaliphatic tail (hydrocarbon chain), either saturated or unsaturated.

FUSARIUM EAR ROT SCORE (Fusarium moniliforme or Fusarium subglutinans):A 1 to 9 visual rating indicating the resistance to Fusarium Ear Rot. Ahigher score indicates a higher resistance. Data are collected only whensufficient selection pressure exists in the experiment measured.

GDU=GROWING DEGREE UNITS: Using the Barger Heat Unit Theory, whichassumes that maize growth occurs in the temperature range 50 degrees F.to 86 degrees F. and that temperatures outside this range slow downgrowth; the maximum daily heat unit accumulation is 36 and the minimumdaily heat unit accumulation is 0. The seasonal accumulation of GDU is amajor factor in determining maturity zones. Growing degree units arecalculated by the Barger Method, where the heat units for a 24-hourperiod are:GDU=[(Maximum temperature+Minimum temperature)/2]−50

The highest maximum temperature used is 86 degrees F. and the lowestminimum temperature used is 50 degrees F. For each inbred or hybrid, ittakes a certain number of GDUs to reach various stages of plantdevelopment.

GENERAL EAR MOLD: Visual rating (1 to 9 score) where a 1 is verysusceptible and a 9 is very resistant. This is based on overall ratingfor ear mold of mature ears without determining the specific moldorganism and may not be predictive for a specific ear mold. Data arecollected only when sufficient selection pressure exists in theexperiment measured.

GENETIC DERIVATIVE or VARIANT: A variety that has undergone minorgenetic modifications as to retain the overall genetics of the variety.Minor genetic modifications would include but are not limited to amutation, a locus conversion, a somoclonal variant, or a variant derivedthrough gene editing methods.

GENE EDITING or GENOME EDITING: Technologies used to precisely changethe DNA in a plant or other organism. Possible changes might include butare not limited to mutate an allele, increase or decrease the expressionof an allele, or add or remove an allele. Generally, these genomicchanges are enabled through the use of various nucleases, and the genesor alleles changed are of the plant species being altered as opposed toadding alleles or genes from a different species. These technologiesalso allow the simultaneous gene-editing of multiple alleles during thesame procedure. In general, gene-editing is thought to be anotherbreeding tool for adding genetic diversity; an important basis forheterosis and higher plant performance.

GENE SILENCING: The interruption or suppression of the expression of agene or allele at the level of transcription or translation.

GENOMIC SELECTION: A family of breeding processes and tools whereby thecomponents of the genetic gain equation are manipulated to increasegenetic gain. At the heart of each process is the development of atraining set of genetics whereby both genotype and phenotype aredetermined experimentally, followed by development of a predictiveequation that can be used to predict phenotype of unknown varieties byonly having determined their genotype. Varieties with the bestpredictive breeding values are then recycled into the breedingpopulation for rapid population improvement and/or advanced forcommercial hybrid production. The importance of specific traits in theseequations is pre-determined by the breeding objectives for the specificbreeding program.

GENOTYPE: Refers to the genetic make-up and/or DNA profile of a cell ororganism.

GIBBERELLA EAR ROT (PINK MOLD) (Gibberella zeae): A 1 to 9 visual ratingindicating the resistance to Gibberella Ear Rot. A higher scoreindicates a higher resistance. Data are collected only when sufficientselection pressure exists in the experiment measured.

GIBBERELLA STALK ROT SCORE: Score of stalk rot severity due toGibberella (Gibberella zeae). Expressed as a 1 to 9 score with 9 beinghighly resistant. Data are collected only when sufficient selectionpressure exists in the experiment measured.

GMC=GLUME COLOR: Rated on a 1 to 9 scale where 1 is green, 2 is yellow,3 is pink, 5 is red, 7 is dark red, and 9 is purple.

GMR=GLUME RING or GLUME BAND: Dark colored ring immediately below theglume if present. Recorded as present or absent.

GOSS'S WILT (Corynebacterium nebraskense): A 1 to 9 visual ratingindicating the resistance to Goss's Wilt. A higher score indicates ahigher resistance. Data are collected only when sufficient selectionpressure exists in the experiment measured.

GRAIN OIL: Absolute value of oil content of the kernel as predicted bynear-infrared transmittance and expressed as a percent of dry matter.

GRAIN PROTEIN: Absolute value of protein content of the kernel aspredicted by near-infrared transmittance and expressed as a percent ofdry matter.

GRAIN STARCH: Absolute value of starch content of the kernel aspredicted by near-infrared transmittance and expressed as a percent ofdry matter.

GRAY LEAF SPOT (Cercospora zeae-maydis): A 1 to 9 visual ratingindicating the resistance to Gray Leaf Spot. A higher score indicates ahigher resistance. Data are collected only when sufficient selectionpressure exists in the experiment measured.

GSP=GREEN SNAP or BRITTLE SNAP: Refers to breakage of the corn stalkcompletely (or mostly) prior to Bilking due to high winds.

H and H1: Refers to the haploid generation of a Doubled Haploid process.

HAPLOID PLANT PART: Refers to a plant part or cell that has a haploidgenotype.

HARD=NUMBER OF DAYS FROM SILKING TO HARVEST: The number of days requiredfor an inbred variety or hybrid to develop from 50 percent of the plantssilking to harvest at 25% kernel moisture.

HARGDU=GDU FROM SILKING TO HARVEST: The number of growing degree units(GDUs) or heat units required for an inbred variety or hybrid to developfrom 50 percent of the plants silking to harvest at 25% kernel moisture.Growing degree units are calculated by the Barger Method as given in theGDU definition.

HKCD=HUSK DRY COLOR: Color of the husk at 65 days after silkingaccording to the Munsell color chart.

HKCF=HUSK FRESH COLOR: Color of the husk at 25 days after silkingaccording to the Munsell color chart.

HKL=EAR HUSK LENGTH: The measure at harvest of the husk length on a 1 to4 scale where 1 is short (ear exposed), 2 is medium (<8 cm), 3 is long(8-10 cm) and 4 is very long (>10 cm). Measurements in cm are how farthe husk extends past the end of the ear; length between the ear tip andend of the husk.

HKT=HUSK TIGHTNESS: The relative measure of husk tightness at 65 daysafter silking on a 1 to 9 scale where 1 is very loose and 9 is verytight

HYBRID VARIETY: A substantially heterozygous hybrid line and minorgenetic variants thereof that retain the overall genetics of the hybridline including but not limited to a locus conversion, a mutation, asomoclonal variant, or gene-edited variant.

INBRED: A variety developed through inbreeding or doubled haploidy thatpreferably comprises homozygous alleles at about 95% or more of itsloci. An inbred can be reproduced by selfing or growing in an isolationso that the plants can only pollinate with the same inbred variety.

INTROGRESSION: A breeding process or tool for transferring geneticmaterial from one genotype to another.

ITL=INTERNODE LENGTH: The length measured in cm of the internode locatedbetween the ear leaf node and the next highest node. The ear leaf nodeis the nodal point of attachment of the highest significant ear.

KNCPC=KERNEL CAP COLOR: Rated at harvest in the middle of the uppermostear on a 1 to 5 scale where 1 is white, 2 is light yellow, 3 is yellow,4 is orange, and 5 is other.

KNL=KERNEL LENGTH (DEPTH): The measure in mm of the length from thekernel cap to the tip.

KNSC=KERNEL SIDE COLOR: Rated at harvest in the middle of the uppermostear on a 1 to 5 scale where 1 is white, 2 is light yellow, 3 is yellow,4 is orange, and 5 is other.

KNT=KERNEL THICKNESS: The measure in mm of the mid-point thickness ofthe kernel on the narrow side.

KNW=KERNEL WIDTH: The measure in mm of the mid-point width of the kernelon the front (embryo) or back (distal) sides.

KNWT=ONE HUNDRED KERNEL WEIGHT: The weight in grams of 100 random andunsized kernels from the ear.

LFAEN=LEAF NUMBER ABOVE THE EAR: The number of leaves above the ear leafnode (not including the ear leaf).

LFAGL=LEAF ANGLE BETWEEN BLADE AND STEM: A measure of the adaxial angleformed between stem and leaf blade. Reported on the leaf located twoleaves above the ear leaf node.

LFC=LEAF COLOR: A measure of the green coloration intensity in theleaves, rated on a 1 to 4 scale where 1 is light green, 2 is mediumgreen, and 3 is dark green, and 4 is very dark green. Reported on theleaf located two leaves above the ear leaf node.

LFLC=LEAF LONGITUDAL CREASES: A relative measure of the longitudinalcreases of the ear leaf on a 1 to 9 scale where 1 is none and 9 is many.

LFMW=LEAF MARGINAL WAVES: A relative measure of the leaf marginal wavesof the ear leaf on a 1 to 9 scale where 1 is none and 9 is many.

LINKAGE: Refers to a phenomenon wherein alleles on the same chromosometend to segregate together more often than expected by chance if theirtransmission was independent.

LOCUS: A specific location on a chromosome.

LOCUS CONVERSION or TRAIT CONVERSION: A locus conversion refers toplants within a variety that have been modified in a manner that retainsthe overall genetics of the variety and further comprises one or moreloci with a specific desired trait. Such as male sterility, insectcontrol, disease control or herbicide tolerance. Examples of singlelocus conversions include mutant genes, transgenes, gene-editedalleles/genes, and native traits finely mapped to a single locus. One ormore locus conversion traits may be introduced into a single cornvariety.

MAIZE DWARF MOSAIC COMPLEX (MDMV=Maize Dwarf Mosaic Virus and MCDV=MaizeChlorotic Dwarf Virus): A 1 to 9 visual rating indicating the resistanceto Maize Dwarf Mosaic Complex. A higher score indicates a higherresistance. Data are collected only when sufficient selection pressureexists in the experiment measured.

MALE STERILITY: A male sterile plant is one which produces no pollen orno viable pollen (pollen that is able to fertilize the egg to produce aviable seed) by means of the plant genetics, biotechnology manipulation,or mechanical manipulation.

MST=HARVEST MOISTURE: The percentage moisture of the grain at harvest.

NEI DISTANCE: A quantitative measure of percent similarity between twovarieties. Nei's distance between varieties A and B can be defined as1−(2*number alleles in common/(number alleles in A+number alleles in B).For example, if varieties A and B are the same for 95 out of 100alleles, the Nei distance would be 0.05. If varieties A and B are thesame for 98 out of 100 alleles, the Nei distance would be 0.02. Freesoftware for calculating Nei distance is available on the internet atmultiple locations such as, for example, at:evolution-genetics.washington.edu/phylip.html. See Nei, Proc Natl AcadSci, 76:5269-5273 (1979) which is incorporated by reference for thispurpose.

NORTHERN LEAF BLIGHT (Helminthosporium turcicum or Exserohilumturcicum): A 1 to 9 visual rating indicating the resistance to NorthernLeaf Blight. A higher score indicates a higher resistance. Data arecollected only when Sufficient selection pressure exists in theexperiment measured.

PERCENT IDENTITY: Percent identity as used herein refers to thecomparison of the alleles present in two varieties. For example, whencomparing two inbred plants to each other, each inbred plant will havethe same allele (and therefore be homozygous) at almost all of theirloci. Percent identity is determined by comparing a statisticallysignificant number of the homozygous alleles of two varieties. Forexample, a percent identity of 90% between SG374 and another varietymeans that the two varieties have the same homozygous alleles at 90% oftheir loci. This is usually measured by comparing the genotypic SNPprofile or other molecular marker profile between the two varieties.

PHT=PLANT HEIGHT: This is a measure in cm of the height of the plantfrom the ground to the tip of the tassel.

PLANT: As used herein, the term “plant” includes reference to animmature or mature whole plant, including a plant that has beendetasseled or from which seed or grain has been removed. The seed orembryo that will produce the plant is also considered to be the plant.

PLANT PART: As used herein, the term “plant part” includes leaves,stems, roots, seed, grain, embryo, pollen, ovules, flowers, ears, cobs,husks, stalks, root tips, anthers, pericarp, silk, tissue, cells and thelike.

PLANT POPULATION: A measure of the number of seeds planted in a field ortest plot, or the number of plants emerged in a field. Recorded as 1000sper acre.

PLATFORM: Refers to a variety of certain base genetics and this varietywith the base genetics comprising a locus conversion or other variant.There can be a platform for the inbred maize variety and the hybridmaize variety.

POL=POLLEN SCORE: A relative measure of the amount of pollen being shedby a tassel rated on a 0 to 9 scale where 0 (zero) is male sterile and 9is heavy pollen shed. The higher the score the more pollen shed.

PREDICTED RELATIVE MATURITY: This trait is based on the harvest moistureof the grain. The relative maturity rating is based on a known set ofchecks and utilizes standard linear regression analyses and is alsoreferred to as the Comparative Relative Maturity Rating System that issimilar to the Minnesota Relative Maturity Rating System.

RESISTANCE: Synonymous with tolerance. The ability of a plant towithstand exposure to an insect, disease, herbicide or other biotic orabiotic stress. A resistant plant variety will have a level ofresistance higher than a comparable susceptible variety.

RTLPE=EARLY ROOT LODGING PERCENTAGE: The percentage of plants that rootlodge prior to or around anthesis; plants that lean from the verticalaxis at an approximately 30-degree angle or greater would be counted asroot lodged. Data are collected only when sufficient selection pressureexists in the experiment measured.

RTLPF=LATE ROOT LODGING PERCENTAGE: The percentage of plants that rootlodge after anthesis through harvest; plants that lean from the verticalaxis at an approximately 30-degree angle or greater would be counted asroot lodged. Data are collected only when sufficient selection pressureexists in the experiment measured.

SDV=SEEDLING VIGOR RATING: This is a measure of the relative height andsize of a corn seedling at the V4 stage of growth on a 1 to 9 scalewhere 1 is weak or slow growth, 5 is average growth, and 9 is stronggrowth. Taller plants, wider leaves, more green mass and darker colorconstitute higher scores.

SEED: Fertilized and ripened ovule, consisting of the plant embryo,varying amounts of stored food material, and a protective outer seedcoat. Synonymous with grain.

SELF POLLINATION: A plant is self-pollinated if pollen from one floweris transferred to the same or another flower of the same plant. Pollenfrom the tassel of a corn plant is applied to the ear silk of the samecorn plant.

SGR=STAY GREEN: Stay green is the measure of plant health measured at 65days after Bilking or close to black layer formation (physiologicalmaturity). Reported on a 1 to 9 scale where 1 is worst with earlydieback and 9 is best with late dieback. Higher score indicate betterlate-season plant health.

SHDD=NUMBER OF DAYS FROM EMERGENCE TO SHED.

SHDGDU=GDU TO SHED: The number of growing degree units (GDUs) or heatunits required for an inbred variety or hybrid to develop from emergenceto 50 percent of the plants shedding pollen. Growing degree units arecalculated by the Barger Method as given in the GDU definition.

SHKL=EAR SHANK LENGTH: A measure in cm of the length of the ear shankfrom the ear base to the attachment point to the stalk.

SHP=LEAF SHEATH PUBESCENCE SCALE: The relative measure of leaf sheathpubescence on a 1 to 9 scale where 1 is none and 9 is like peach fuzz.Reported on the leaf sheath located two leaves above the ear leaf node.

SIB POLLINATION: A plant is sib-pollinated when individuals within thesame family or variety are used for pollination.

SITE SPECIFIC INTEGRATION: Genes that create a site for site specificDNA integration. This includes the introduction of FRT sites that may beused in the FLP/FRT system and/or Lox sites that may be used in theCre/Loxp system. For example, see Lyznik, et al., Site-SpecificRecombination for Genetic Engineering in Plants, Plant Cell Rep (2003)21:925-932 and WO99/25821.

SKC=SILK COLOR: A measure of the silk color at silk emergence and afterthe silks have been exposed to the sun briefly to allow colordevelopment (3-days after R1). Reported on a 1 to 9 scale where 1 isgreen, 2 is yellow, 3 is pink, 5 is red, 7 is dark red, and 9 is purple.

SLKD=NUMBER OF DAYS FROM EMERGENCE TO SILK.

SLKGDU=GDU TO SILK: The number of growing degree units required for aninbred or hybrid to develop from emergence to 50 percent of the plantsat silk emergence (R1). Growing degree units are calculated by theBarger Method as given in the GDU definition.

SNP=SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISM: A DNA sequence variation occurringwhen a single nucleotide in the genome differs between individual plantsor plant varieties. The differences can be equated to different allelesand indicate identifiable and measurable polymorphisms between alleles.These polymorphisms are used as a genetic marker system (SNPs) for plantand animal study. A number of SNP markers can be used to determine agenotype or molecular profile of an individual plant or plant varietyand can be used to compare similarities and differences among plants andplant varieties.

SOUTHERN LEAF BLIGHT (Helminthosporium maydis or Bipolaris maydis): A 1to 9 visual rating indicating the resistance to Southern Leaf Blight. Ahigher score indicates a higher resistance. Data are collected only whensufficient selection pressure exists in the experiment measured.

SOUTHERN RUST (Puccinia polysora): A 1 to 9 visual rating indicating theresistance to Southern Rust. A higher score indicates a higherresistance. Data are collected only when sufficient selection pressureexists in the experiment measured.

Stewart's Wilt (Erwinia stewartii): A 1 to 9 visual rating indicatingthe resistance to Stewart's Wilt. A higher score indicates a higherresistance. Data are collected only when sufficient selection pressureexists in the experiment measured.

SSRs=Single Sequence Repeats: Genetic markers based on polymorphisms inrepeated nucleotide sequences, such as microsatellites.

STLP=STALK LODGING PERCENTAGE: The percentage of plants that stalklodged (stalk breakage) at harvest (when grain moisture is between about20% and 30%) as measured by the percentage of plants that had brokenbelow the ear. Data are collected only when sufficient selectionpressure exists in the experiment measured.

TLPSTK=TILLERS PER STALK: An average count of the number of tillers perplant. A tiller is a secondary shoot that usually develops from thebasal nodes of the plant. A countable tiller is one that reaches aheight of 30 cm or taller.

TSBAGL=TASSEL BRANCH ANGLE: The adaxial angle between the tassel centralspike and the primary branches. Reported from the second branch from thebottom of the tassel.

TSBAT=TASSEL BRANCH ATTITUDE: Measured from the main spike to the tasselbranch tip on a 1 to 3 scale where 1 is erect, 2 is horizontal, and 3 isdrooping.

TSCSL=LENGTH OF TASSEL CENTRAL SPIKE: The length in cm of the tasselcentral spike from the uppermost lateral branch to the tip.

TSL=TASSEL LENGTH: The measure in cm from the flag leaf collar to thetassel tip.

TSPB=NUMBER OF PRIMARY LATERAL TASSEL BRANCHES: The number of primarylateral tassel branches; not including secondary lateral branches whichoriginate from primary lateral branches.

TSPL=TASSEL PEDUNCLE LENGTH: The measure in cm from the top leaf node(flag leaf node) to the bottom primary lateral tassel branch.

TWT=TEST WEIGHT: The measure of the weight of the grain in pounds for agiven volume (bushel).

VARIETY: A maize line or hybrid and minor genetic modifications there ofthat retain the overall genetics of the line including but not limitedto a locus conversion, a mutation, a somoclonal variant, or gene-editedvariant.

YLDADJ=GRAIN YIELD (BUSHELS/ACRE): Yield of the grain at harvest byweight or volume (bushels) per unit area (acre) adjusted to 15.5%moisture.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION AND FURTHER EMBODIMENTS

All tables discussed in the Detailed Description of the Invention andFurther Embodiments section can found at the end of the section.

Breeding History of SG374

Inbred maize variety SG374 was developed by the following method. Across was made between inbred line SG260 and inbred line SG101. InbredSG374 was developed from this cross by producing a doubled haploidpopulation from the F1 plants, selfing and using ear-to-row selection inthe D1 plants, selfing and selecting the D2 plants, and then selfing andbulking from subsequent generations while simultaneously testing fordesirable hybrid combinations with established inbreds. Maize varietySG374, being substantially homozygous, can be reproduced by plantingseeds of the variety, growing the resulting maize plants underself-pollinating or sib-pollinating conditions with adequate isolation,and harvesting the resulting seed using techniques familiar to the seedcorn industry.

Phenotypic Characteristics of SG374

Inbred maize variety SG374 may be used as a male or female in theproduction of the first generation F1 hybrid. Inbred maize variety SG374has a relative maturity of approximately 114 days. The variety has shownuniformity and stability within the limits of environmental influencefor all the traits as described in the Morphological CharacteristicsInformation (Table 1, found at the end of the section). The variety hasbeen self-pollinated a sufficient number of generations with carefulattention paid to uniformity of plant type to ensure the homozygosityand phenotypic stability necessary for use in commercial hybrid seedproduction. The variety has been increased both by hand and in isolatedfields with continued observation for uniformity. No variant traits havebeen observed or are expected in SG374.

Genotypic Characteristics of SG374

In addition to phenotypic observations, a plant can also be identifiedby its genotype. The genotype of a plant can be characterized through agenetic marker profile or by DNA sequencing. As a result of using thedoubled haploid technique for inbred development, SG374 is substantiallyhomozygous. Because this homozygosity could be characterized by markerprofiling or sequencing, an F1 hybrid made with SG374 wouldsubstantially comprise the marker profile or DNA sequence of SG374. Thisis because an F1 hybrid is the sum of its inbred parents, e.g., if oneinbred parent is homozygous for allele x at a particular locus, and theother inbred parent is homozygous for allele y at that locus, the F1hybrid will be xy (heterozygous) at that locus. A genetic marker profilecan therefore be used to identify hybrids comprising SG374 as a parent,since such hybrids will comprise two sets of alleles, one set of whichwill be from SG374. The determination of the male set of alleles and thefemale set of alleles may be made by marker profiling the hybrid and thepericarp of the hybrid seed, which is composed of maternal parent cells.One way to obtain the paternal parent profile is to subtract thepericarp profile or sequence from the hybrid profile or sequence.Subsequent generations of progeny produced by selection and breeding areexpected to be of genotype xx (homozygous), yy (homozygous), or xy(heterozygous) for these locus positions. When the F1 plant is used toproduce an inbred, the resulting inbred should be either x or y for thatallele.

Therefore, in accordance with the above, an embodiment of this inventionis a SG374 progeny maize plant or plant part that is a first generation(F1) hybrid maize plant comprising two sets of alleles, wherein one setof the alleles is the same as SG374 at substantially all loci. A maizecell wherein one set of the alleles is the same as SG374 atsubstantially all loci is also an embodiment of the invention. Thismaize cell may be a part of a hybrid seed, plant or plant part producedby crossing SG374 with another maize plant.

Genetic marker profiles can be obtained by techniques such asRestriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLPs), Randomly AmplifiedPolymorphic DNAs (RAPDs), Arbitrarily Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction(AP-PCR), DNA Amplification Fingerprinting (DAF), Sequence CharacterizedAmplified Regions (SCARS), Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms(AFLPs), Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) which are also referred to asMicrosatellites, and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs). Forexample, see Berry, Don et al., “Assessing Probability of Ancestry UsingSimple Sequence Repeat Profiles: Applications to Maize Hybrids andInbreds”, Genetics, 2002, 161:813-824, and Berry, Don et al., “AssessingProbability of Ancestry Using Simple Sequence Repeat Profiles:Applications to Maize Inbred Lines and Soybean Varieties”, Genetics,2003, 165: 331-342.

Particular markers used for these purposes are not limited to the set ofmarkers disclosed herein but may include any type of marker and markerprofile which provides a means of distinguishing varieties. In additionto being used for identification of maize variety SG374, a hybridproduced through the use of SG374, and the identification orverification of pedigree for progeny plants produced through the use ofSG374, a genetic marker profile is also useful in developing a locusconversion of SG374.

Means of performing genetic marker profiles using SNP and SSRpolymorphisms are well known in the art. SNPs are genetic markers basedon a polymorphism in a single nucleotide. A marker system based on SNPscan be highly informative in linkage analysis relative to other markersystems in that multiple alleles may be present. SG374 and its plantparts can be identified through a molecular marker profile. Such plantparts may be either diploid or haploid. Also encompassed within thescope of the invention are plants and plant parts substantiallybenefiting from the use of SG374 in their development, such as SG374comprising a locus conversion or comprising a single gene-edited locusor multiple gene-edited loci.

Comparing SG374 to Other Inbreds

A breeder uses various methods to help determine which plants should beselected from segregating populations and ultimately which inbredvarieties will be used to develop hybrids for commercialization. Inaddition to knowledge of the germplasm and plant genetics, a part of theselection process is dependent on experimental design coupled with theuse of statistical analysis. Experimental design and statisticalanalysis are used to help determine which plants, which family ofplants, and finally which inbred varieties and hybrid combinations aresignificantly better or different for one or more traits of interest.Experimental design methods are used to assess error so that differencesbetween two inbred varieties or two hybrid varieties can be moreaccurately evaluated. Statistical analysis includes the calculation ofmean values, determination of the statistical significance of thesources of variation, and the calculation of the appropriate variancecomponents. Either a five or a one percent significance level iscustomarily used to determine whether a difference that occurs for agiven trait is real or due to the environment or experimental error. Oneof ordinary skill in the art of plant breeding would know how toevaluate the traits of two plant varieties to determine if there is asignificant difference between the two traits expressed by thosevarieties. For example, see Fehr, Walt, Principles of CultivarDevelopment, p. 261-286 (1987). Mean trait values may be used todetermine whether trait differences are significant. Trait values shouldpreferably be measured on plants grown under the same environmentalconditions, and environmental conditions should be appropriate for thetraits or traits being evaluated. Sufficient selection pressure shouldbe present for optimum measurement of traits of interest such asherbicide tolerance, insect or disease resistance, or environmentalstress tolerance. A locus conversion of SG374 for herbicide tolerance(for example) should be compared with an isogenic counterpart in theabsence of the converted trait. In addition, a locus conversion forinsect or disease resistance should be compared to the isogeniccounterpart, in the absence of disease pressure or insect pressure.

Development of Maize Hybrids Using SG374

A single cross maize hybrid results from the cross of two inbredvarieties, each of which has a genotype that complements the genotype ofthe other. A hybrid progeny of the first generation is designated F1. Inthe development of commercial hybrids in a maize plant breeding program,only the F1 hybrid plants are sought. F1 hybrids are more vigorous thantheir inbred parents. This hybrid vigor, or heterosis, can be manifestedin many polygenic traits, including increased vegetative growth andincreased grain yield.

SG374 may be used to produce hybrid maize. One such embodiment is themethod of crossing maize variety SG374 with another maize plant, such asa different maize variety, to form a first generation F1 hybrid seed.The first generation F1 hybrid seed, plant and plant part produced bythis method is an embodiment of the invention. The first generation F1seed, plant and plant part will comprise an essentially complete set ofthe alleles of variety SG374. One of ordinary skill in the art canutilize molecular methods to identify a particular F1 hybrid plantproduced using variety SG374. Further, one of ordinary skill in the artmay also produce F1 hybrids with transgenic, male sterile, gene-edited,and/or locus conversions of variety SG374.

The development of a maize hybrid in a maize plant breeding programinvolves three steps: (1) the selection of plants from various germplasmpools for initial breeding crosses; (2a) the selfing of the selectedplants from the breeding crosses for several generations to produce aseries of varieties, such as SG374, which although different from eachother, breed true and are highly uniform; or (2b) subjecting the F1breeding cross seed to a doubled haploid method to develop a DHpopulation of D1 seed followed by multiple rounds of varietal selection,and selfing to establish one or more varieties from the DH population;and (3) crossing the selected varieties with different varieties toproduce the hybrids. During the inbreeding process in maize, the vigorof the varieties decreases, and so one would not be likely to use SG374directly to produce grain. Similarly, the development of an inbredvariety like SG374 through a DH method would also produce a lessvigorous plant. However, vigor is restored when SG374 is crossed to adifferent inbred variety to produce a commercial F1 hybrid. An importantconsequence of the homozygosity and homogeneity of the inbred variety isthat the hybrid between a defined pair of inbreds may be reproducedindefinitely as long as the homogeneity of the inbred parents ismaintained.

SG374 may be used to produce a single cross hybrid, a double crosshybrid, or a three-way hybrid. A single cross hybrid is more common andis produced when two inbred varieties are crossed to produce the F1progeny. A double cross hybrid is produced from four inbred varietiescrossed in pairs (A times B and C times D) and then the two F1 hybridsare crossed again (A times B) times (C times D). A three-way crosshybrid is produced from three inbred varieties where two of the inbredvarieties are crossed (A times B) and then the resulting F1 hybrid iscrossed with the third inbred (A times B) times C. In each case,pericarp tissue from the female parent will be a part of and protect thehybrid seed.

Molecular data such as DNA or RNA sequence from SG374 may be used in aplant breeding process. Nucleic acids may be isolated from a seed ofSG374 or from a plant, plant part, or cell produced by growing a seed ofSG374, or from a seed of SG374 with a locus conversion or gene editedlocus, or from a plant, plant part, or cell of SG374 with a locusconversion or gene edited locus. One or more polymorphisms may beidentified and isolated from the nucleic acids. In turn these identifiedDNA polymorphisms could be correlated with a phenotype or trait ofinterest or a performance advantage. A plant having one or more of theidentified polymorphisms may be selected and used in a plant breedingmethod to produce another plant.

Combining Ability of SG374

Combining ability of a variety, as well as the performance of thevariety per se, is a factor in the selection of improved maize inbreds.Combining ability refers to a variety's contribution as a parent whencrossed with other varieties to form hybrids. The initial experimentalhybrids formed for the purpose of selecting superior varieties may bereferred to as test crosses and include comparisons to other hybridvarieties grown in the same environment (same cross, location and timeof planting). One way of measuring combining ability is by using valuesbased in part on the overall mean of a number of test crosses weightedby number of experiment and location combinations in which the hybridcombinations occurs. The mean may be adjusted to remove environmentaleffects and known genetic relationships among the varieties.

General combining ability provides an overall score for the inbred overa large number of test crosses. Specific combining ability providesinformation on hybrid combinations formed by SG374 and a specific inbredparent. A variety such as SG374 which exhibits good general combiningability may be used in a large number of hybrid combinations.

Hybrid Comparisons

These hybrid comparisons in Table 2 represent specific hybrid crosseswith SG374 and a comparison of these specific hybrids with other hybridswith favorable characteristics. These comparisons illustrate the goodspecific combining ability of SG374. The results in Table 2 compare aspecific hybrid for which SG374 is a parent with other hybrids. The datain Table 2 shows that several F1 hybrids created with SG374 have beenreduced to practice. These comparisons illustrate the good specificcombining ability of SG374. The data presented for these hybrids isbased on replicated field trials.

Locus Conversions of SG374

SG374 represents a new base genetic variety into which a new locus maybe introgressed. Direct transformation and backcrossing represent twoimportant methods that can be used to accomplish such an introgression.The term locus conversion is used to designate the product of such anintrogression or trait conversion.

A locus conversion of SG374 will retain the genetic integrity of SG374.A reasonably successful locus conversion of SG374 will comprise at least90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% of the geneticidentity of SG374 as determined by using SSR markers or SNP markers. Forexample, a locus conversion of SG374 can be developed when DNA sequencesare introduced through backcrossing (Hallauer et al. in Corn and CornImprovement, Sprague and Dudley, Third Ed. 1998), with SG374 utilized asthe recurrent parent. Both naturally occurring and transgenic DNAsequences may be introduced through backcrossing techniques. A backcrossconversion may produce a plant with a trait or locus conversion in atleast one or more backcrosses, including at least 2 crosses, at least 3crosses, at least 4 crosses, at least 5 crosses and the like. Molecularmarker assisted breeding or selection, or marker assisted backcrossingmay be utilized to reduce the number of backcrosses necessary to achievethe backcross conversion. For example, see Openshaw, S. J. et al.,Marker-assisted Selection in Backcross Breeding, In: ProceedingsSymposium of the Analysis of Molecular Data, August 1994, Crop ScienceSociety of America, Corvallis, Oreg., where it is demonstrated that alocus conversion can be made in as few as two backcrosses.

The complexity of the backcross conversion method depends on the type oftrait being transferred (single genes or closely linked genes versusunlinked genes), the level of expression of the trait, the type ofinheritance (cytoplasmic or nuclear) and the types of parents includedin the cross. It is understood by those of ordinary skill in the artthat for single locus traits that are relatively easy to classify, thebackcross method is effective and relatively easy to manage. (SeeHallauer et al. in Corn and Corn Improvement, Sprague and Dudley, ThirdEd. 1998). Desired traits that may be transferred through locusconversion include, but are not limited to, waxy starch, sterility(nuclear and cytoplasmic), fertility restoration, grain color (white),nutritional enhancements, drought resistance, enhanced nitrogenutilization efficiency, altered nitrogen responsiveness, altered fattyacid profile, increased digestibility, low phytate, industrialenhancements, disease resistance (bacterial, fungal or viral), insectresistance, herbicide tolerance and yield enhancements. A locusconversion, also called a trait conversion, can be a native trait, atrait derived by gene-editing, or a transgenic trait likely obtainedfrom a different species from maize. In addition, an introgression siteitself, such as an FRT site, Lox site or other site-specific integrationsite, may be inserted by backcrossing or gene-editing and utilized fordirect insertion of one or more genes of interest into a specific plantvariety. The seed industry commonly markets “triple stacks” of basegenetics; which can be varieties comprising a locus conversion of atleast 3 genes. Similarly, “quadruple stacks” would comprise the basegenetics and could comprise a locus conversion of at least 4 genes. Asingle locus may contain several transgenes, such as a transgene fordisease resistance that, in the same expression vector, also contains atransgene for herbicide tolerance. As used herein, the phrase“comprising a transgene, transgenic event, locus conversion, orgene-edited locus” means one or more transgenes, transgenic events,locus conversions, or gene-edited loci. The gene for herbicide tolerancemay be used as a selectable marker and/or as a phenotypic trait. A locusconversion of a site-specific integration system allows for theintegration of multiple genes at the converted loci. Further, SSI andFRT technologies known to those of skill in the art may result inmultiple gene introgressions at a single locus. Similarly, those withknowledge of gene-editing should be able to insert multiple genes in thesame locus.

The locus conversion or gene-edited locus may result from either thetransfer of a dominant allele or a recessive allele. Selection ofprogeny containing the trait of interest is accomplished by directselection for a trait associated with a dominant allele. Transgenestransferred via backcrossing typically function as a dominant singlegene trait and are relatively easy to classify. Selection of progeny fora trait that is transferred via a recessive allele, such as the waxystarch characteristic, requires growing and selfing the first backcrossgeneration to determine which plants carry the recessive alleles throughexpression of the recessive trait in a homozygous state. Recessivetraits may require additional progeny testing in successive backcrossgenerations to determine the presence of the locus of interest. The lastbackcross generation is usually selfed to give pure breeding progeny forthe gene(s) being transferred, although a backcross conversion with astably introgressed trait may also be maintained by further backcrossingto the recurrent parent with selection for the converted trait.

Along with selection for the trait of interest, progeny are selected forthe phenotype and/or genotype of the recurrent parent. Whileoccasionally additional polynucleotide sequences or genes may betransferred along with the backcross conversion, the backcrossconversion variety “fits into the same hybrid combination as therecurrent parent inbred variety and contributes the effect of theadditional locus added through the backcross.” ((Poehlman et al (1995)Breeding Field Crop, 4th Ed., Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa,pp. 132-155 and 321-344)). When one or more traits are introgressed intothe variety a difference in quantitative agronomic traits, such as yieldor dry down, between the variety and an introgressed version of thevariety in some environments may occur. For example, the introgressedversion may provide a net yield increase in environments where the traitprovides a benefit, such as when a variety with an introgressed traitfor insect resistance is grown in an environment where insect pressureexists, or when a variety with herbicide tolerance is grown in anenvironment where herbicide is used.

The typical backcrossing process for adding or modifying a trait orlocus in maize variety SG374 comprises (1) crossing SG374 plants grownfrom SG374 seed with plants of another maize variety that comprise thedesired trait or locus; (2) selecting F1 progeny plants that comprisethe desired trait or locus to produce selected F1 progeny plants; (3)crossing the selected progeny plants with the SG374 recurrent parentplants to produce backcross progeny plants; (4) selecting for backcrossprogeny plants that have the desired trait or locus and the phenotypiccharacteristics of maize variety SG374 to produce selected backcrossprogeny plants; and (5) backcrossing to SG374 one or more times insuccession as the recurrent parent to produce backcross progeny plantsthat comprise said trait or locus. The modified SG374 may be furthercharacterized as having essentially the same phenotypic characteristicsof maize variety SG374 listed in Table 1 and/or may be characterized bypercent identity to SG374 as determined by molecular markers, such asSSR markers or SNP markers or through genomic sequence comparisons.

In addition, the above process and other similar processes describedherein may be used to produce F1 hybrid maize seed by adding a step atthe end of the process that comprises crossing SG374 with the locusconversion with a different maize plant and harvesting the resultant F1hybrid maize seed. This “stacking” of traits is typically used in thehybrid seed industry and known to those who practice the art.

Traits are also used by those of ordinary skill in the art tocharacterize progeny. Traits are commonly evaluated at a significancelevel, such as a 1%, 5% or 10% significance level, when measured inplants grown in the same environmental conditions.

Male Sterility and Hybrid Seed Production

Hybrid seed production requires elimination or inactivation of pollenproduced by the female inbred parent. Incomplete removal or inactivationof the pollen provides the potential for self-pollination. A reliablemethod of controlling male fertility in plants offers the opportunityfor improved seed production.

SG374 can be produced in a male-sterile form. There are several ways inwhich a maize plant can be manipulated so that it is male sterile. Theseinclude use of manual or mechanical emasculation (or detasseling), useof one or more genetic factors that confer male sterility, includingcytoplasmic genetic and/or nuclear genetic male sterility, use ofgametocides and the like. A male sterile designated SG374 may includeone or more genetic factors, which result in cytoplasmic genetic and/ornuclear genetic male sterility. All of such embodiments are within thescope of the present claims. The male sterility may be either partial orcomplete male sterility.

Hybrid maize seed is often produced by a male sterility systemincorporating manual or mechanical detasseling. Alternate strips of twomaize inbreds (a male and a female) are planted in a field, and thepollen-bearing tassels are removed from the female inbreds. Providedthat there is sufficient isolation from sources of foreign maize pollen,the ears of the detasseled female inbred will be fertilized only fromthe other inbred (male), and the resulting seed is therefore hybrid andwill form hybrid plants.

The laborious detasseling process can be avoided by using cytoplasmicmale-sterile (CMS) inbreds. Plants of a CMS inbred are male sterile as aresult of genetic factors in the cytoplasm, as opposed to the nucleus,and so nuclear linked genes are not transferred during backcrossing.Thus, this characteristic is inherited exclusively through the femaleparent in maize plants, since only the female provides cytoplasm to thefertilized seed. CMS plants are fertilized with pollen from anotherinbred that is not male-sterile. Pollen from the second inbred may ormay not contribute genes that make the hybrid plants male-fertile, andeither option may be preferred depending on the intended use of thehybrid. The same hybrid seed, a portion produced from detasseled fertilemaize and a portion produced using the CMS system, can be blended toensure that adequate pollen loads are available for fertilization whenthe hybrid plants are grown. CMS systems have been successfully usedsince the 1950's, and the male sterility trait is routinely backcrossedinto female inbred varieties. See Wych, Robert D. (1988) “Production ofHybrid Seed”, Corn and Corn Improvement, Ch. 9, pp. 565-607.

There are several methods of conferring genetic male sterilityavailable, such as multiple mutant genes at separate locations withinthe genome that confer male sterility, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos.4,654,465 and 4,727,219 to Brar et al. and chromosomal translocations asdescribed by Patterson in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,861,709 and 3,710,511. Inaddition to these methods, Albertsen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,068,describes a system of nuclear male sterility which includes: identifyinga gene which is critical to male fertility; silencing this native genewhich is critical to male fertility; removing the native promoter fromthe essential male fertility gene and replacing it with an induciblepromoter; inserting this genetically engineered gene back into theplant; and thus creating a plant that is male sterile because theinducible promoter is not “on” resulting in the male fertility gene notbeing transcribed. Fertility is restored by inducing, or turning “on”,the promoter, which in turn allows the gene that confers male fertilityto be transcribed and expressed.

These, and the other methods of conferring genetic male sterility in theart, each possess their own benefits and drawbacks. Some other methodsuse a variety of approaches such as delivering into the plant a geneencoding a cytotoxic substance associated with a male tissue specificpromoter or an antisense system in which a gene critical to fertility isidentified and an antisense to that gene is inserted in the plant (seeFabinjanski, et al. EPO 89/3010153.8 publication no. 329,308 and PCTapplication PCT/CA90/00037 published as WO 90/08828).

Another system for controlling male sterility makes use of gametocides.Gametocides are not a genetic system, but rather a topical applicationof chemicals. These chemicals affect cells that are critical to malefertility. The application of these chemicals affects fertility in theplants only for the growing season in which the gametocide is applied(see Carlson, Glenn R., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,904). Application of thegametocide, timing of the application and genotype specificity oftenlimit the usefulness of the approach and it is not appropriate in allsituations.

Incomplete control over male fertility may result in self-pollinatedseed being unintentionally harvested and packaged with hybrid seed. Thiswould typically be only female parent seed, because the male plant isgrown in rows that are typically destroyed prior to seed development.Once the seed from the hybrid bag is planted, it is possible to identifyand select these self-pollinated plants. These self-pollinated plantswill be one of the inbred varieties used to produce the hybrid. Thoughthe possibility of SG374 being included in a hybrid seed bag exists, theoccurrence is very low because much care is taken by seed companies toavoid such inclusions. It is worth noting that hybrid seed is sold togrowers for the production of grain or forage and not for breeding orseed production. These self-pollinated plants can be identified andselected by one skilled in the art due to their less vigorous appearancefor vegetative and/or reproductive characteristics, including shorterplant height, small ear size, ear and kernel shape, or othercharacteristics.

Identification of these self-pollinated varieties can also beaccomplished through molecular marker analyses or through newer methodssuch as genotyping by sequencing. See, “The Identification of FemaleSelfs in Hybrid Maize: A Comparison Using Electrophoresis andMorphology”, Smith, J. S. C. and Wych, R. D., Seed Science andTechnology 14, 1-8 (1995), the disclosure of which is expresslyincorporated herein by reference. Through these technologies, thehomozygosity of the self-pollinated variety can be verified by analyzingallelic composition at various loci along the genome. Those methodsallow for rapid identification of the invention disclosed herein. Seealso, “Identification of Atypical Plants in Hybrid Maize Seed byPostcontrol and Electrophoresis” Sarca, V. et al., Probleme de GeneticaTeoritica si Aplicata Vol. 20 (1) p. 29-42.

Transformation

The advent of new molecular biological techniques has allowed theisolation and characterization of genetic elements with specificfunctions, such as encoding specific protein products. Scientists in thefield of plant biology developed a strong interest in engineering thegenome of plants to contain and express foreign genetic elements, oradditional, or modified versions of native or endogenous geneticelements in order to alter the traits of a plant in a specific manner.Any DNA sequences, whether from a different species or from the samespecies, which are stably inserted into the cell using transformationare referred to herein collectively as “transgenes” and/or “transgenicevents”. In some embodiments of the invention, a transformed variant ofSG374 may comprise at least one transgene but could contain from one tomany transgenes inserted into one to many genomic sites. Over the lasttwenty to twenty-five years several methods for producing transgenicplants have been developed, and the present invention also relates totransformed versions of the claimed maize variety SG374 as well ashybrid combinations thereof.

Numerous methods for plant transformation have been developed, includingbiological and physical plant transformation protocols. See, forexample, Miki et al., “Procedures for Introducing Foreign DNA intoPlants” in Methods in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Glick,B. R. and Thompson, J. E. Eds. (CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, 1993) pages67-88 and Armstrong, “The First Decade of Maize Transformation: A Reviewand Future Perspective” (Maydica 44:101-109, 1999), and most recentlyLowe et al “Rapid Genotype Independent Zea mays L (Maize) Transformationvia Direct Somatic Embryogenesis” (In Vitro Cellular & DevelopmentalBiology-Plant 54:240-252, 2018). In addition, expression vectors and invitro culture methods for plant cell or tissue transformation andregeneration of plants are available. See, for example, Gruber et al.,“Vectors for Plant Transformation” in Methods in Plant Molecular Biologyand Biotechnology, Glick, B. R. and Thompson, J. E. Eds. (CRC Press,Inc., Boca Raton, 1993) pages 89-119.

The most prevalent types of plant transformation involve theconstruction of an expression vector. Such a vector comprises a DNAsequence that contains a gene under the control of or operatively linkedto a regulatory element, for example a promoter. The vector may containone or more genes and one or more regulatory elements.

A transgenic event which has been stably engineered into the germ cellline of a particular maize plant using transformation techniques, couldbe moved into the germ cell line of another variety using traditionalbreeding techniques that are well known in the plant breeding arts. Forexample, a backcrossing approach is commonly used to move a transgenicevent from a transformed maize plant to another variety, and theresulting progeny would then comprise the transgenic event(s). Also, ifan inbred variety was used for the transformation then the transgenicplants could be crossed to a different inbred in order to produce atransgenic hybrid maize plant.

Various genetic elements can be introduced into the plant genome usingtransformation. These elements include but are not limited to genes;coding sequences; inducible, constitutive, and tissue specificpromoters; enhancing sequences; and signal and targeting sequences. Forexample, see the traits, genes and transformation methods listed in U.S.Pat. Nos. 6,118,055 and 6,284,953, which are herein incorporated byreference. In addition, transformability of a variety can be increasedby introgressing the trait of high transformability from another varietyknown to have high transformability, such as Hi-II. See U.S. PatentApplication Publication US2004/0016030 (2004). Similarly,transformability can be developed within a maize inbred using recentmethods described by Lowe et al In Vitro Cellular and DevelopmentalBiology-Plant 54:240-252, 2018.

With transgenic plants according to the present invention, a foreignprotein can be produced in commercial quantities. Thus, techniques forthe selection and propagation of transformed plants, which are wellunderstood in the art, yield a plurality of transgenic plants that areharvested in a conventional manner, and a foreign protein then can beextracted from a tissue of interest or from total biomass. Proteinextraction from plant biomass can be accomplished by known methods whichare discussed, for example, by Heney and Orr, Anal. Biochem. 114: 92-6(1981).

Transgenic events can be mapped by one of ordinary skill in the art andsuch techniques are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art.For exemplary methodologies in this regard, see for example, Glick andThompson, Methods in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology 269-284(CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1993).

Likewise, by means of the present invention, plants can be geneticallyengineered to express various phenotypes of agronomic interest. Throughthe transformation of maize, the expression of genes can be altered toenhance disease resistance, insect resistance, herbicide tolerance,agronomic traits, grain quality and other traits. Transformation canalso be used to insert DNA sequences which control or help controlmale-sterility. DNA sequences native to maize as well as non-native DNAsequences can be transformed into maize and used to alter levels ofnative or non-native proteins. Various promoters, targeting sequences,enhancing sequences, and other DNA sequences can be inserted into themaize genome for the purpose of altering the expression of proteins.Reduction of the activity of specific genes (also known as genesilencing, or gene suppression) is desirable for several aspects ofgenetic engineering in plants.

Many techniques for gene silencing are well known to one of skill in theart, including but not limited to knock-outs (such as by insertion of atransposable element such as mu (Vicki Chandler, The Maize Handbook Ch.118 (Springer-Verlag 1994) or other genetic elements such as a FRT, Loxor other site specific integration site, antisense technology (see,e.g., Sheehy et al. (1988) PNAS USA 85:8805-8809; and U.S. Pat. Nos.5,107,065; 5,453,566; and 5,759,829); co-suppression (e.g., Taylor(1997) Plant Cell 9:1245; Jorgensen (1990) Trends Biotech.8(12):340-344; Flavell (1994) PNAS USA 91:3490-3496; Finnegan et al.(1994) Bio/Technology 12: 883-888; and Neuhuber et al. (1994) Mol. Gen.Genet. 244:230-241); RNA interference (Napoli et al. (1990) Plant Cell2:279-289; U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,323; Sharp (1999) Genes Dev. 13:139-141;Zamore et al. (2000) Cell 101:25-33; and Montgomery et al. (1998) PNASUSA 95:15502-15507), virus-induced gene silencing (Burton, et al. (2000)Plant Cell 12:691-705; and Baulcombe (1999) Curr. Op. Plant Bio.2:109-113); target-RNA-specific ribozymes (Haseloff et al. (1988) Nature334: 585-591); hairpin structures (Smith et al. (2000) Nature407:319-320; WO 99/53050; and WO 98/53083); MicroRNA (Aukerman & Sakai(2003) Plant Cell 15:2730-2741); ribozymes (Steinecke et al. (1992) EMBOJ. 11:1525; and Perriman et al. (1993) Antisense Res. Dev. 3:253);oligonucleotide mediated targeted modification (e.g., WO 03/076574 andWO 99/25853); Zn-finger targeted molecules (e.g., WO 01/52620; WO03/048345; and WO 00/42219); and other methods or combinations of theabove methods known to those of skill in the art.

Gene-Editing

Gene-editing or genome editing technologies have been used andcommercialized for a number of years with the main component for thesetechnologies being the various nucleases such as zinc-finger nuclease,meganuclease, and/or TALEN, but the potential for this technology hassignificantly increased recently with the development of the CRISPR-Cas9nuclease system and related nuclease systems (see reviews by Songstad etal 2017 Critical Reviews in Plant Science, DOI:10.1080/07352689.2017.1281663, and Ma et al 2017 Molecular Plant9:961-974, and Townson 2017 BioscienceHorizons volume 10). Use of therapidly evolving CRISPR systems now allow for those in the art to moreeasily mutate genes, alter genes by a single nucleotide or multiplenucleotides, remove or replace genes/alleles, suppress or increaseexpression of alleles, etc. The first published use of CRISPR in maizewas by Svitashev et al 2016 (Nature Communications DOI:10.1038/ncomms13274) where they demonstrated the addition of herbicideresistance and male sterility systems. More recently Shi et al 2017(Plant Biotechnology Journal 15:207-216) have demonstrated how CRISPRcould be used to increase drought resistance of maize by mutating theARGOS8 gene. While some technical limitations still currently exist, itis clear gene-editing will only increase in importance for agricultureand specifically as a maize breeding tool as this technology advances(Gao 2018 Nature Reviews 19:275-276).

It is possible that plants of the variety SG374 could be modified bygene-editing a trait of interest. Following this initial modification,other traits of interest could be further gene-edited in the varietySG374. Plants, seeds, and cells from such genome edits would beconsidered derivatives of variety SG374 by their genome remainingsubstantially variety SG374 genetics, and are hereby claimed.Additionally, other varieties of corn could have allele or locusmodifications by gene-editing followed by backcrossing the edited alleleor locus into variety SG374 by methods known in the art. Such plantsalso would substantially be variety SG374 genetics and are also claimedhere.

Exemplary nucleotide sequences that may be altered by geneticengineering or gene-editing include, but are not limited to, thosecategorized below.

1. Transgenes that Confer Resistance to Insects or Disease and thatEncode:

(A) Plant disease resistance genes. Plant defenses are often activatedby specific interaction between the product of a disease resistance gene(R) in the plant and the product of a corresponding avirulence (Avr)gene in the pathogen. A plant variety can be transformed with clonedresistance gene to engineer plants that are resistant to specificpathogen strains. See, for example Jones et al., Science 266: 789 (1994)(cloning of the tomato Cf-9 gene for resistance to Cladosporium fulvum);Martin et al., Science 262: 1432 (1993) (tomato Pto gene for resistanceto Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato encodes a protein kinase); Mindrinoset al., Cell 78: 1089 (1994) (Arabidopsis RSP2 gene for resistance toPseudomonas syringae), McDowell & Woffenden, (2003) Trends Biotechnol.21(4): 178-83 and Toyoda et al., (2002) Transgenic Res. 11(6):567-82. Aplant resistant to a disease is one that is more resistant to a pathogenas compared to the wild type plant or susceptible plant.

(B) A Bacillus thuringiensis protein, a derivative thereof or asynthetic polypeptide modeled thereon. See, for example, Geiser et al.,Gene 48: 109 (1986), who disclose the cloning and nucleotide sequence ofa Bt delta-endotoxin gene. Moreover, DNA molecules encodingdelta-endotoxin genes can be purchased from American Type CultureCollection (Rockville, Md.), for example, under ATCC Accession Nos.40098, 67136, 31995 and 31998. Other non-limiting examples of Bacillusthuringiensis transgenes being genetically engineered are given in thefollowing patents and patent applications and hereby are incorporated byreference for this purpose: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,188,960; 5,689,052;5,880,275; 5,986,177; 7,105,332; 7,208,474; WO 91/14778; WO 99/31248; WO01/12731; WO 99/24581; WO 97/40162 and U.S. application Ser. Nos.10/032,717; 10/414,637; 11/018,615; 11/404,297; 11/404,638; 11/471,878;11/780,501; 11/780,511; 11/780,503; 11/953,648; 11/953,648; and Ser. No.11/957,893.

(C) An insect-specific hormone or pheromone such as an ecdysteroid andjuvenile hormone, a variant thereof, a mimetic based thereon, or anantagonist or agonist thereof. See, for example, the disclosure byHammock et al., Nature 344: 458 (1990), of baculovirus expression ofcloned juvenile hormone esterase, an inactivator of juvenile hormone.

(D) An insect-specific peptide which, upon expression, disrupts thephysiology of the affected pest. For example, see the disclosures ofRegan, J. Biol. Chem. 269: 9 (1994) (expression cloning yields DNAcoding for insect diuretic hormone receptor); Pratt et al., Biochem.Biophys. Res. Comm. 163: 1243 (1989) (an allostatin is identified inDiploptera puntata); Chattopadhyay et al. (2004) Critical Reviews inMicrobiology 30 (1): 33-54 2004; Zjawiony (2004) J Nat Prod 67 (2):300-310; Carlini & Grossi-de-Sa (2002) Toxicon, 40 (11): 1515-1539;Ussuf et al. (2001) Curr Sci. 80 (7): 847-853; and Vasconcelos &Oliveira (2004) Toxicon 44 (4): 385-403. See also U.S. Pat. No.5,266,317 to Tomalski et al., who disclose genes encodinginsect-specific toxins.

(E) An enzyme responsible for a hyperaccumulation of a monterpene, asesquiterpene, a steroid, hydroxamic acid, a phenylpropanoid derivativeor another non-protein molecule with insecticidal activity.

(F) An enzyme involved in the modification, including thepost-translational modification, of a biologically active molecule; forexample, a glycolytic enzyme, a proteolytic enzyme, a lipolytic enzyme,a nuclease, a cyclase, a transaminase, an esterase, a hydrolase, aphosphatase, a kinase, a phosphorylase, a polymerase, an elastase, achitinase and a glucanase, whether natural or synthetic. See PCTapplication WO 93/02197 in the name of Scott et al., which discloses thenucleotide sequence of a callase gene. DNA molecules which containchitinase-encoding sequences can be obtained, for example, from the ATCCunder Accession Nos. 39637 and 67152. See also Kramer et al., InsectBiochem. Molec. Biol. 23: 691 (1993), who teach the nucleotide sequenceof a cDNA encoding tobacco hookworm chitinase, and Kawalleck et al.,Plant Molec. Biol. 21: 673 (1993), who provide the nucleotide sequenceof the parsley ubi4-2 polyubiquitin gene, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,563,020;7,145,060 and 7,087,810.

(G) A molecule that stimulates signal transduction. For example, see thedisclosure by Botella et al., Plant Molec. Biol. 24: 757 (1994), ofnucleotide sequences for mung bean calmodulin cDNA clones, and Griess etal., Plant Physiol. 104: 1467 (1994), who provide the nucleotidesequence of a maize calmodulin cDNA clone.

(H) A hydrophobic moment peptide. See PCT application WO 95/16776 andU.S. Pat. No. 5,580,852 disclosure of peptide derivatives of Tachyplesinwhich inhibit fungal plant pathogens) and PCT application WO 95/18855and U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,914 (teaches synthetic antimicrobial peptidesthat confer disease resistance).

(I) A membrane permease, a channel former or a channel blocker. Forexample, see the disclosure by Jaynes et al., Plant Sci. 89: 43 (1993),of heterologous expression of a cecropin-beta lytic peptide analog torender transgenic tobacco plants resistant to Pseudomonas solanacearum.

(J) A viral-invasive protein or a complex toxin derived therefrom. Forexample, the accumulation of viral coat proteins in transformed plantcells imparts resistance to viral infection and/or disease developmenteffected by the virus from which the coat protein gene is derived, aswell as by related viruses. See Beachy et al., Ann. Rev. Phytopathol.28: 451 (1990). Coat protein-mediated resistance has been conferred upontransformed plants against alfalfa mosaic virus, cucumber mosaic virus,tobacco streak virus, potato virus X, potato virus Y, tobacco etchvirus, tobacco rattle virus and tobacco mosaic virus. Id.

(K) An insect-specific antibody or an immunotoxin derived therefrom.Thus, an antibody targeted to a critical metabolic function in theinsect gut would inactivate an affected enzyme, killing the insect. Cf.Taylor et al., Abstract #497, SEVENTH INT'L SYMPOSIUM ON MOLECULARPLANT-MICROBE INTERACTIONS (Edinburgh, Scotland, 1994) (enzymaticinactivation in transgenic tobacco via production of single-chainantibody fragments).

(L) A virus-specific antibody. See, for example, Tavladoraki et al.,Nature 366: 469 (1993), which shows that transgenic plants expressingrecombinant antibody genes are protected from virus attack.

(M) A developmental-arrestive protein produced in nature by a pathogenor a parasite. Thus, fungal endo alpha-1,4-D-polygalacturonasesfacilitate fungal colonization and plant nutrient release bysolubilizing plant cell wall homo-alpha-1,4-D-galacturonase. See Lamb etal., Bio/Technology 10: 1436 (1992). The cloning and characterization ofa gene which encodes a bean endopolygalacturonase-inhibiting protein isdescribed by Toubart et al., Plant J. 2: 367 (1992).

(N) A developmental-arrestive protein produced in nature by a plant. Forexample, Logemann et al., Bio/Technology 10: 305 (1992), have shown thattransgenic plants expressing the barley ribosome-inactivating gene havean increased resistance to fungal disease.

(O) Genes involved in the Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR) Responseand/or the pathogenesis related genes. Briggs, S., Current Biology, 5(2)(1995), Pieterse & Van Loon (2004) Curr. Opin. Plant Bio. 7(4):456-64and Somssich (2003) Cell 113(7):815-6.

(P) Antifungal genes (Cornelissen and Melchers, Pl. Physiol.101:709-712, (1993) and Parijs et al., Planta 183:258-264, (1991) andBushnell et al., Can. J. of Plant Path. 20(2):137-149 (1998). Also seeU.S. application Ser. Nos. 09/950,933; 11/619,645; 11/657,710;11/748,994; 11/774,121 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,891,085 and 7,306,946.

(Q) Detoxification genes, such as for fumonisin, beauvericin,moniliformin and zearalenone and their structurally related derivatives.For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,716,820; 5,792,931; 5,798,255;5,846,812; 6,083,736; 6,538,177; 6,388,171 and 6,812,380.

(R) Cystatin and cysteine proteinase inhibitors. See U.S. Pat. No.7,205,453.

(S) Defensin genes. See WO03000863 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,911,577;6,855,865; 6,777,592 and 7,238,781.

(T) Genes conferring resistance to nematodes. See e.g. PCT ApplicationWO96/30517; PCT Application WO93/19181, WO 03/033651 and Urwin et al.,Planta 204:472-479 (1998), Williamson (1999) Curr Opin Plant Bio.2(4):327-31; and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,284,948 and 7,301,069.

(U) Genes that confer resistance to Phytophthora Root Rot, such as theRps 1, Rps 1-a, Rps 1-b, Rps 1-c, Rps 1-d, Rps 1-e, Rps 1-k, Rps 2, Rps3-a, Rps 3-b, Rps 3-c, Rps 4, Rps 5, Rps 6, Rps 7 and other Rps genes.See, for example, Shoemaker et al, Phytophthora Root Rot Resistance GeneMapping in Soybean, Plant Genome IV Conference, San Diego, Calif.(1995).

(V) Genes that confer resistance to Brown Stem Rot, such as described inU.S. Pat. No. 5,689,035 and incorporated by reference for this purpose.

(W) Genes that confer resistance to Colletotrichum, such as described inUS Patent publication US20090035765 and incorporated by reference forthis purpose. This includes the Rcg locus that may be utilized as asingle locus conversion.

(X) Genes that confer insect resistance through expression ofinsecticidal RNAi molecules such as described by Gu et al 2013 CropProtection 45:36 or claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,581,039 or 8,906,876.

2. Transgenes that Confer Tolerance to an Herbicide, for Example:

(A) An herbicide that inhibits the growing point or meristem, such as animidazolinone or a sulfonylurea. Exemplary genes in this category codefor mutant ALS and AHAS enzyme as described, for example, by Lee et al.,EMBO J. 7: 1241 (1988), and Miki et al., Theor. Appl. Genet. 80: 449(1990), respectively. See also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,605,011; 5,013,659;5,141,870; 5,767,361; 5,731,180; 5,304,732; 4,761,373; 5,331,107;5,928,937; and 5,378,824; U.S. application Ser. No. 11/683,737, andinternational publication WO 96/33270.

(B) Glyphosate (tolerance imparted by mutant5-enolpyruvl-3-phosphikimate synthase (EPSPS) and aroA genes,respectively) and other phosphono compounds such as glufosinate(phosphinothricin acetyl transferase (PAT) and Streptomyceshygroscopicus phosphinothricin acetyl transferase (bar) genes), andpyridinoxy or phenoxy proprionic acids and cyclohexones (ACCaseinhibitor-encoding genes). See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,835 toShah et al., which discloses the nucleotide sequence of a form of EPSPSwhich can confer glyphosate tolerance. U.S. Pat. No. 5,627,061 to Barryet al. also describes genes encoding EPSPS enzymes. See also U.S. Pat.Nos. 6,566,587; 6,338,961; 6,248,876 B1; 6,040,497; 5,804,425;5,633,435; 5,145,783; 4,971,908; 5,312,910; 5,188,642; 4,940,835;5,866,775; 6,225,114 B1; 6,130,366; 5,310,667; 4,535,060; 4,769,061;5,633,448; 5,510,471; Re. 36,449; RE 37,287 E; and 5,491,288; andinternational publications EP1173580; WO 01/66704; EP1173581 andEP1173582, which are incorporated herein by reference for this purpose.Glyphosate tolerance is also imparted to plants that express a gene thatencodes a glyphosate oxido-reductase enzyme as described more fully inU.S. Pat. Nos. 5,776,760 and 5,463,175, which are incorporated herein byreference for this purpose. In addition, glyphosate tolerance can beimparted to plants by the over expression of genes encoding glyphosateN-acetyltransferase. See, for example, U.S. application Ser. Nos.10/427,692; 10/835,615 and 11/507,751. A DNA molecule encoding a mutantaroA gene can be obtained under ATCC accession No. 39256, and thenucleotide sequence of the mutant gene is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.4,769,061 to Cornai. European Patent Application No. 0 333 033 to Kumadaet al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,374 to Goodman et al. disclose nucleotidesequences of glutamine synthetase genes which confer tolerance toherbicides such as L-phosphinothricin. The nucleotide sequence of aphosphinothricin-acetyltransferase gene is provided in European PatentNo. 0 242 246 and 0 242 236 to Leemans et al. De Greef et al.,Bio/Technology 7: 61 (1989), describe the production of transgenicplants that express chimeric bar genes coding for phosphinothricinacetyl transferase activity. See also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,969,213;5,489,520; 5,550,318; 5,874,265; 5,919,675; 5,561,236; 5,648,477;5,646,024; 6,177,616 B1; and 5,879,903, which are incorporated herein byreference for this purpose. Exemplary genes conferring resistance tophenoxy proprionic acids and cyclohexones, such as sethoxydim andhaloxyfop, are the Acc1-S1, Acc1-S2 and Acc1-S3 genes described byMarshall et al., Theor. Appl. Genet. 83: 435 (1992).

(C) An herbicide that inhibits photosynthesis, such as a triazine (psbAand gs+ genes) and a benzonitrile (nitrilase gene). Przibilla et al.,Plant Cell 3: 169 (1991), describe the transformation of Chlamydomonaswith plasmids encoding mutant psbA genes. Nucleotide sequences fornitrilase genes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,648 to Stalker, andDNA molecules containing these genes are available under ATCC AccessionNos. 53435, 67441 and 67442. Cloning and expression of DNA coding for aglutathione S-transferase is described by Hayes et al., Biochem. J. 285:173 (1992).

(D) Acetohydroxy acid synthase, which has been found to make plants thatexpress this enzyme resistant to multiple types of herbicides, has beenintroduced into a variety of plants (see, e.g., Hattori et al. (1995)Mol Gen Genet 246:419). Other genes that confer tolerance to herbicidesinclude: a gene encoding a chimeric protein of rat cytochrome P4507A1and yeast NADPH-cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase (Shiota et al. (1994)Plant Physiol 106:17), genes for glutathione reductase and superoxidedismutase (Aono et al. (1995) Plant Cell Physiol 36:1687, and genes forvarious phosphotransferases (Datta et al. (1992) Plant Mol Biol 20:619).

(E) Protoporphyrinogen oxidase (protox) is necessary for the productionof chlorophyll, which is necessary for all plant survival. The protoxenzyme serves as the target for a variety of herbicidal compounds. Theseherbicides also inhibit growth of all the different species of plantspresent, causing their total destruction. The development of plantscontaining altered protox activity which are tolerant to theseherbicides are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,288,306 B1; 6,282,837 B1;and 5,767,373; and international publication WO 01/12825.

3. Transgenes that Confer or Contribute to an Altered GrainCharacteristic, Such as:

(A) Altered fatty acids, for example, by (1) Down-regulation ofstearoyl-ACP desaturase to increase stearic acid content of the plant.See Knultzon et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89: 2624 (1992) andWO99/64579 (Genes for Desaturases to Alter Lipid Profiles in Corn), (2)Elevating oleic acid via FAD-2 gene modification and/or decreasinglinolenic acid via FAD-3 gene modification (see U.S. Pat. Nos.6,063,947; 6,323,392; 6,372,965 and WO 93/11245), (3) Alteringconjugated linolenic or linoleic acid content, such as in WO 01/12800,(4) Altering LEC1, AGP, Dek1, Superal1, mi1ps, various Ipa genes such asIpa1, Ipa3, hpt or hggt. For example, see WO 02/42424, WO 98/22604, WO03/011015, WO02/057439, WO03/011015, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,423,886,6,197,561, 6,825,397, and U.S. Application Serial Nos. US2003/0079247,US2003/0204870, and Rivera-Madrid, R. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.92:5620-5624 (1995).

B) Altered phosphorus content, for example, by the (1) Introduction of aphytase-encoding gene would enhance breakdown of phytate, adding morefree phosphate to the transformed plant. For example, see VanHartingsveldt et al., Gene 127: 87 (1993), for a disclosure of thenucleotide sequence of an Aspergillus niger phytase gene. (2) Modulatinga gene that reduces phytate content. In maize, for example, this couldbe accomplished, by cloning and then re-introducing DNA associated withone or more of the alleles, such as the LPA alleles, identified in maizemutants characterized by low levels of phytic acid, such as in WO05/113778 and/or by altering inositol kinase activity as in WO02/059324, US2003/0009011, WO 03/027243, US2003/0079247, WO 99/05298,U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,197,561, 6,291,224, 6,391,348, WO2002/059324,US2003/0079247, Wo98/45448, WO99/55882, WO01/04147.

(C) Altered carbohydrates affected, for example, by altering a gene foran enzyme that affects the branching pattern of starch or, a genealtering thioredoxin such as NTR and/or TRX (see. (See U.S. Pat. No.6,531,648 which is incorporated by reference for this purpose) and/or agamma zein knock out or mutant such as cs27 or TUSC27 or en27 (See U.S.Pat. No. 6,858,778 and US2005/0160488, US2005/0204418; which areincorporated by reference for this purpose). See Shiroza et al., J.Bacteriol. 170: 810 (1988) (nucleotide sequence of Streptococcus mutansfructosyltransferase gene), Steinmetz et al., Mol. Gen. Genet. 200: 220(1985) (nucleotide sequence of Bacillus subtilis levansucrase gene), Penet al., Bio/Technology 10: 292 (1992) (production of transgenic plantsthat express Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylase), Elliot et al., PlantMolec. Biol. 21: 515 (1993) (nucleotide sequences of tomato invertasegenes), Sogaard et al., J. Biol. Chem. 268: 22480 (1993) (site-directedmutagenesis of barley alpha-amylase gene), and Fisher et al., PlantPhysiol. 102: 1045 (1993) (maize endosperm starch branching enzyme II),WO 99/10498 (improved digestibility and/or starch extraction throughmodification of UDP-D-xylose 4-epimerase, Fragile 1 and 2, Ref1, HCHL,C4H), U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,529 (method of producing high oil seed bymodification of starch levels (AGP)). The fatty acid modification genesmentioned herein may also be used to affect starch content and/orcomposition through the interrelationship of the starch and oilpathways.

(D) Altered antioxidant content or composition, such as alteration oftocopherol or tocotrienols. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 6,787,683,US2004/0034886 and WO 00/68393 involving the manipulation of antioxidantlevels, and WO 03/082899 through alteration of a homogentisate geranylgeranyl transferase (hggt).

(E) Altered essential seed amino acids. For example, see U.S. Pat. No.6,127,600 (method of increasing accumulation of essential amino acids inseeds), U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,913 (binary methods of increasingaccumulation of essential amino acids in seeds), U.S. Pat. No. 5,990,389(high lysine), WO99/40209 (alteration of amino acid compositions inseeds), WO99/29882 (methods for altering amino acid content ofproteins), U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,016 (alteration of amino acidcompositions in seeds), WO98/20133 (proteins with enhanced levels ofessential amino acids), U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,802 (high methionine), U.S.Pat. No. 5,885,801 (high threonine), U.S. Pat. No. 6,664,445 (plantamino acid biosynthetic enzymes), U.S. Pat. No. 6,459,019 (increasedlysine and threonine), U.S. Pat. No. 6,441,274 (plant tryptophansynthase beta subunit), U.S. Pat. No. 6,346,403 (methionine metabolicenzymes), U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,599 (high sulfur), U.S. Pat. No. 5,912,414(increased methionine), WO98/56935 (plant amino acid biosyntheticenzymes), WO98/45458 (engineered seed protein having higher percentageof essential amino acids), WO98/42831 (increased lysine), U.S. Pat. No.5,633,436 (increasing sulfur amino acid content), U.S. Pat. No.5,559,223 (synthetic storage proteins with defined structure containingprogrammable levels of essential amino acids for improvement of thenutritional value of plants), WO96/01905 (increased threonine),WO95/15392 (increased lysine), US2003/0163838, US2003/0150014,US2004/0068767, U.S. Pat. No. 6,803,498, WO01/79516.

4. Genes that Control Male-Sterility:

There are several methods of conferring genetic male sterilityavailable, such as multiple mutant genes at separate locations withinthe genome that confer male sterility, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos.4,654,465 and 4,727,219 to Brar et al. and chromosomal translocations asdescribed by Patterson in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,861,709 and 3,710,511. Inaddition to these methods, Albertsen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,068,describe a system of nuclear male sterility which includes: identifyinga gene which is critical to male fertility; silencing this native genewhich is critical to male fertility; removing the native promoter fromthe essential male fertility gene and replacing it with an induciblepromoter; inserting this genetically engineered gene back into theplant; and thus creating a plant that is male sterile because theinducible promoter is not “on” resulting in the male fertility gene notbeing transcribed. Fertility is restored by inducing, or turning “on”,the promoter, which in turn allows the gene that confers male fertilityto be transcribed.

(A) Introduction of a deacetylase gene under the control of atapetum-specific promoter and with the application of the chemicalN-Ac-PPT (WO 01/29237).

(B) Introduction of various stamen-specific promoters (WO 92/13956, WO92/13957).

(C) Introduction of the barnase and the barstar gene (Paul et al. PlantMol. Biol. 19:611-622, 1992).

For additional examples of nuclear male and female sterility systems andgenes, see also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,859,341; 6,297,426; 5,478,369;5,824,524; 5,850,014; and 6,265,640; all of which are herebyincorporated by reference.

5. Genes that create a site for site specific DNA integration. Thisincludes the introduction of FRT sites that may be used in the FLP/FRTsystem and/or Lox sites that may be used in the Cre/Loxp system. Forexample, see Lyznik, et al., Site-Specific Recombination for GeneticEngineering in Plants, Plant Cell Rep (2003) 21:925-932 and WO 99/25821which are hereby incorporated by reference. Other systems that may beused include the Gin recombinase of phage Mu (Maeser et al., 1991; VickiChandler, The Maize Handbook Ch. 118 (Springer-Verlag 1994), the Pinrecombinase of E. coli (Enomoto et al., 1983), and the R/RS system ofthe pSR1 plasmid (Araki et al., 1992). 6. Genes that affect abioticstress resistance (including but not limited to flowering, ear and seeddevelopment, enhancement of nitrogen utilization efficiency, alterednitrogen responsiveness, drought resistance or tolerance, coldresistance or tolerance, and salt resistance or tolerance) and increasedyield under stress. For example, see: WO 00/73475 where water useefficiency is altered through alteration of malate; U.S. Pat. Nos.5,892,009; 5,965,705; 5,929,305; 5,891,859; 6,417,428; 6,664,446;6,706,866; 6,717,034; 6,801,104; WO2000060089; WO2001026459;WO2001035725; WO2001034726; WO2001035727; WO2001036444; WO2001036597;WO2001036598; WO2002015675; WO2002017430; WO2002077185; WO2002079403;WO2003013227; WO2003013228; WO2003014327; WO2004031349; WO2004076638;WO9809521; and WO9938977 describing genes, including CBF genes andtranscription factors effective in mitigating the negative effects offreezing, high salinity, and drought on plants, as well as conferringother positive effects on plant phenotype; US2004/0148654 and WO01/36596where abscisic acid is altered in plants resulting in improved plantphenotype such as increased yield and/or increased tolerance to abioticstress; WO2000/006341, WO04/090143, U.S. application Ser. Nos.10/817,483 and 09/545,334 where cytokinin expression is modifiedresulting in plants with increased stress tolerance, such as droughttolerance, and/or increased yield. Also see WO0202776, WO2003052063,JP2002281975, U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,153, WO0164898, U.S. Pat. Nos.6,177,275, and 6,107,547 (enhancement of nitrogen utilization andaltered nitrogen responsiveness). For ethylene alteration, seeUS20040128719, US20030166197 and WO200032761. For plant transcriptionfactors or transcriptional regulators of abiotic stress, see e.g.US20040098764 or US20040078852.

Other genes and transcription factors that affect plant growth andagronomic traits such as yield, flowering, plant growth and/or plantstructure, can be introduced or introgressed into plants, see e.g.WO97/49811 (LHY), WO98/56918 (ESD4), WO97/10339 and U.S. Pat. No.6,573,430 (TFL), U.S. Pat. No. 6,713,663 (FT), WO96/14414 (CON),WO96/38560, WO01/21822 (VRN1), WO00/44918 (VRN2), WO99/49064 (GI),WO00/46358 (FRI), WO97/29123, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,794,560, 6,307,126 (GAI),WO99/09174 (D8 and Rht), WO2004076638 and WO2004031349 (transcriptionfactors).

Using SG374 to Develop Another Maize Plant

Maize varieties such as SG374 are typically developed for use in theproduction and commercialization of hybrid maize varieties. However,varieties such as SG374 also provide a source of breeding material thatmay be used to develop new maize inbred varieties. Plant breedingtechniques known in the art and used in a maize plant breeding programinclude, but are not limited to, recurrent selection, mass selection,bulk selection, backcrossing, pedigree breeding, open pollinationbreeding, genetic marker enhanced selection, making double haploids,mutational breeding, genomic selection, transformation, andgene-editing. Often combinations of these techniques are used. Thedevelopment of maize hybrids in a maize plant breeding program requires,in general, the development of homozygous inbred varieties, the crossingof these varieties, and the evaluation of the crosses. There are manyanalytical methods available to evaluate the result of a cross. Theoldest and most traditional method of analysis is the observation ofphenotypic traits; in particular grain yield, but genotypic analysis mayalso be used.

This invention is also directed to methods for producing a maize plantby crossing a first parent maize plant with a second parent maize plantwherein either the first or second parent maize plant is a maize plantof the variety SG374. The other parent may be any other maize plant,such as another inbred variety or a plant that is part of a synthetic ornatural population. Any such methods using the maize variety SG374 arepart of this invention: selfing, ribbing, backcrossing, mass selection,pedigree breeding, bulk selection, genomic selection, hybrid production,crosses to populations, doubled haploid development, and the like. Thesemethods are well known in the art and some of the more commonly usedbreeding methods are described below. Descriptions of breeding methodscan also be found in one of several reference books (e.g., Allard,Principles of Plant Breeding, 1960; Simmonds, Principles of CropImprovement, 1979; Fehr, “Breeding Methods for Cultivar Development”,Production and Uses, 2.sup.nd ed., Wilcox editor, 1987 the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference).

Pedigree Breeding

Pedigree breeding simply refers to a selection protocol utilized duringthe inbreeding process to develop desirable homozygous inbred lines andwhereby crosses and selected progeny are closely tracked at eachsuccessive generation. The traditional pedigree breeding method ofselfing and selection starts with the crossing of two genotypes, such asSG374 and one other inbred variety having one or more desirablecharacteristics that is lacking or which complements SG374. If the twooriginal parents do not provide all the desired characteristics, othersources can be included in the breeding population. In the traditionalpedigree method, superior plants are selfed and selected in successivefilial generations. In the succeeding filial generations, theheterozygous condition gives way to homogeneous varieties as a result ofself-pollination and selection. Typically, in the traditional pedigreemethod of breeding, five or more successive filial generations ofselfing and selection is practiced: F1 to F2; F2 to F3; F3 to F4; F4 toF5, etc. After a sufficient amount of inbreeding, successive filialgenerations will serve to increase seed of the developed inbred.Preferably, the inbred variety comprises homozygous alleles at about 95%or more of its loci. At the end of the process, the finished homozygousor near homozygous inbred variety is then used to make an F1 cross withanother corn plant to start the selfing and selection process again.While the traditional pedigree breeding method described above is stillused by some corn breeding programs, DH methods have now become apreferred method of pedigree breeding due to the advantages ofdevelopment of a truly homozygous line in less time in comparison to thetraditional pedigree breeding method.

Recurrent Selection and Mass Selection

Recurrent selection is a method used in a plant breeding program toimprove a population of plants. SG374 is suitable for use in a recurrentselection program. The method entails individual plants crosspollinating with each other to form progeny. The progeny are grown andthe superior progeny selected by any number of selection methods, whichinclude individual plant, half-sib progeny, full-sib progeny, selfedprogeny and topcrossing. The selected progeny are cross pollinated witheach other to form progeny for another population. This population isplanted and again superior plants for the desired traits are selected tocross pollinate with each other. Recurrent selection is a cyclicalprocess and therefore can be repeated as many times as desired. Theobjective of recurrent selection is to improve the traits of apopulation. The improved population can then be used as a source ofbreeding material to obtain inbred varieties to be used in hybrids orused as parents for a synthetic cultivar. A synthetic cultivar is theresultant progeny formed by the intercrossing of several selectedinbreds.

SG374 is suitable for use in mass selection. Mass selection is a usefultechnique when used in conjunction with molecular marker enhancedselection. In mass selection, seeds from individuals are selected basedon phenotype and/or genotype. These selected seeds are then bulked andused to grow the next generation. Bulk selection requires growing apopulation of plants in a bulk plot, allowing the plants toself-pollinate, harvesting the seed in bulk and then using a sample ofthe seed harvested in bulk to plant the next generation. Instead ofself-pollination, directed pollination could be used as part of thebreeding program.

Genomic Selection

SG374 is suitable for inclusion in a genomic selection program. Genomicselection refers to a breeding tool or process whereby the components ofthe genetic gain equation (below)Genetic Gain=(Selection Intensity×Accuracy×GeneticVariance)/Generational Lengthare manipulated to increase genetic gain. Use of genetic selection toolscomprise the development of a training set of genetics whereby bothgenotype and phenotype are determined experimentally, followed bydevelopment of predictive equations that can be used to predictphenotype of unknown varieties by only having determined their genotype.Varieties with the best predictive breeding values are then furtheradvanced for commercial hybrid production and/or recycled into thebreeding population for rapid population improvement. These techniquescan be adapted into a traditional selfing and selection or DH breedingprogram to fit the breeding program budget and/or breeding objectives.The greatest advantage of genomic selection is to increase genetic gainprimarily by reducing or shortening the breeding cycle. See: Gorjanc etal. BMC Genomics (2016) 17:30; Heffner et al. Crop Science 49:1 (2009);Jannink et al. Briefings in Functional Genomics 9:166 (2010); Scheben etal. Plant Biotchnology Journal 15:149 (2017); Gaynor et al. Crop Science57:2372 (2017); Zhang et al. G3 7:2315 (2017). The disclosures of whichare incorporated herein by reference.

Mutation Breeding

Mutation breeding is one of many methods that could be used to introducenew traits into SG374. SG374 is suitable for use in a mutation breedingprogram. Mutations that occur spontaneously or are artificially inducedcan be useful sources of variability for a plant breeder. The goal ofartificial mutagenesis is to increase the rate of mutation for a desiredcharacteristic. Mutation rates can be increased by many different meansincluding temperature, long-term seed storage, tissue cultureconditions, radiation; such as X-rays, Gamma rays (e.g. cobalt 60 orcesium 137), neutrons, (product of nuclear fission by uranium 235 in anatomic reactor), Beta radiation (emitted from radioisotopes such asphosphorus 32 or carbon 14), or ultraviolet radiation (preferably from2500 to 2900 nm), or chemical mutagens (such as base analogues(5-bromo-uracil), related compounds (8-ethoxy caffeine), antibiotics(streptonigrin), alkylating agents (sulfur mustards, nitrogen mustards,epoxides, ethylenamines, sulfates, sulfonates, sulfones, lactones),azide, hydroxylamine, nitrous acid, or acridines. Once a desired traitis observed through mutagenesis the trait may then be incorporated intoexisting germplasm by traditional breeding techniques, such asbackcrossing. Details of mutation breeding can be found in “Principlesof Cultivar Development” Fehr, 1993 Macmillan Publishing Company, thedisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. In addition,mutations created in other varieties may be used to produce a backcrossconversion of SG374 that comprises such mutation.

Production of Double Haploids

The production of double haploids can also be used for the developmentof inbreds in the breeding program. For example, an F1 hybrid for whichSG374 is a parent can be used to produce double haploid plants. Doublehaploids are produced by the doubling of a set of chromosomes (1N) froma heterozygous plant to produce a completely homozygous individual. Forexample, see Wan et al., “Efficient Production of Doubled Haploid PlantsThrough Colchicine Treatment of Anther-Derived Maize Callus”,Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 77:889-892, 1989 and US2003/0005479.This can be advantageous because the process omits the multiplegenerations of selfing needed to obtain a homozygous plant from aheterozygous source.

Haploid induction systems have been developed for various plants toproduce haploid tissues, plants and seeds. The haploid induction systemcan produce haploid plants from almost any genotype by crossing aselected variety (as female) with an inducer variety. Such inducervarieties for maize include Stock 6 (Coe, 1959, Am. Nat. 93:381-382;Sharkar and Coe, 1966, Genetics 54:453-464) RWS (available online fromthe Universitat Hohenheim), KEMS (Deimling, Roeber, and Geiger, 1997,Vortr. Pflanzenzuchtg 38:203-224), KMS and ZMS (Chalyk, Bylich &Chebotar, 1994, MNL 68:47; Chalyk & Chebotar, 2000, Plant Breeding119:363-364), and indeterminate gametophyte (ig) mutation (Kermicle 1969Science 166:1422-1424). The disclosures of which are incorporated hereinby reference.

Methods for obtaining doubled haploid plants are also disclosed inKobayashi, M. et al., Journ. of Heredity 71(1):9-14, 1980, Pollacsek,M., Agronomie (Paris) 12(3):247-251, 1992; Cho-Un-Haing et al., Journ.of Plant Biol., 1996, 39(3):185-188; Verdoodt, L., et al., February1998, 96(2):294-300; Genetic Manipulation in Plant Breeding, ProceedingsInternational Symposium Organized by EUCARPIA, Sep. 8-13, 1985, Berlin,Germany; Chalyk et al., 1994, Maize Genet Coop. Newsletter 68:47;Chalyk, S. T., 1999, Maize Genet. Coop. Newsletter 73:53-54; Coe, R. H.,1959, Am. Nat. 93:381-382; Deimling, S. et al., 1997, Vortr.Pflanzenzuchtg 38:203-204; Kato, A., 1999, J. Hered. 90:276-280;Lashermes, P. et al., 1988, Theor. Appl. Genet. 76:570-572 and76:405-410; Tyrnov, V. S. et al., 1984, Dokl. Akad. Nauk. SSSR276:735-738; Zabirova, E. R. et al., 1996, Kukuruza I Sorgo N4, 17-19;Aman, M. A., 1978, Indian J. Genet Plant Breed 38:452-457; Chalyk S. T.,1994, Euphytica 79:13-18; Chase, S. S., 1952, Agron. J. 44:263-267; Coe,E. H., 1959, Am. Nat. 93:381-382; Coe, E. H., and Sarkar, K. R., 1964 J.Hered. 55:231-233; Greenblatt, I. M. and Bock, M., 1967, J. Hered.58:9-13; Kato, A., 1990, Maize Genet. Coop. Newsletter 65:109-110; Kato,A., 1997, Sex. Plant Reprod. 10:96-100; Nanda, D. K. and Chase, S. S.,1966, Crop Sci. 6:213-215; Sarkar, K. R. and Coe, E. H., 1966, Genetics54:453-464; Sarkar, K. R. and Coe, E. H., 1971, Crop Sci. 11:543-544;Sarkar, K. R. and Sachan J. K. S., 1972, Indian J. Agric. Sci.42:781-786; Kermicle J. L., 1969, Mehta Yeshwant, M. R., Genetics andMolecular Biology, September 2000, 23(3):617-622; Tahir, M. S. et al.Pakistan Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, August 2000,43(4):258-261; Knox, R. E. et al. Plant Breeding, August 2000,119(4):289-298; U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,951 and U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/121,200, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein byreference.

Thus, an embodiment of this invention is a process for making ahomozygous SG374 progeny plant substantially similar to SG374 byproducing or obtaining a seed from the cross of SG374 and another maizeplant and applying double haploid methods to the F1 seed or F1 plant orto any successive filial generation. Such methods decrease the number ofgenerations required to produce an inbred with similar genetics orcharacteristics to SG374. See Bernardo, R. and Kahler, A. L., Theor.Appl. Genet. 102:986-992, 2001.

In particular, a process of making seed substantially retaining themolecular marker profile of maize variety SG374 is contemplated, suchprocess comprising obtaining or producing F1 hybrid seed for which maizevariety SG374 is a parent, inducing double haploids to create progenywithout the occurrence of meiotic segregation, obtaining the molecularmarker profile of maize variety SG374, and selecting progeny that retainthe molecular marker profile of SG374.

Another embodiment of the invention is a maize seed derived from inbredmaize variety SG374 produced by crossing a plant or plant part of inbredmaize variety SG374 with another plant, wherein representative seed ofsaid inbred maize variety SG374 has been deposited and wherein saidmaize seed derived from the inbred maize variety SG374 has 85%-99% ofthe same polymorphisms for molecular markers as the plant or plant partof inbred maize variety SG374. The number of molecular markers used forthe molecular marker profiling can be 2000 or more. The type ofmolecular marker used in the molecular profile can be but is not limitedto Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, SNPs. A maize seed derived frominbred maize variety SG374 produced by crossing a plant or plant part ofinbred maize variety SG374 with another plant, wherein representativeseed of said inbred maize variety SG374 has been deposited and whereinsaid maize seed derived from the inbred maize variety SG374 hasessentially the same morphological characteristics as maize varietySG374 when grown in the same environmental conditions. As used herein, aplant having essentially the same morphological characteristics as maizevariety SG374 has at least 50%, at least 60%, at least 65%, at least70%, at least 75%, at least 80%, at least 85%, at least 86%, at least87%, at least 88%, at least 89%, at least 90%, at least 91%, at least92%, at least 93%, at least 94%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least97%, at least 98%, at least 99%, or all of the morphologicalcharacteristics listed in Tables 1-3 within about 50%, about 40%, about30%, about 20%, about 15%, about 10%, about 9%, about 8%, about 7%,about 6%, about 5%, about 4%, about 3%, about 2%, about 1% of themeasured value or less and/or including measureable characteristics notlisted in Tables 1-3. The same environmental conditions may be, but isnot limited to a side-by-side comparison. The characteristics can bethose listed in Table 1. The comparison can be made using any number ofprofessionally accepted experimental designs and statistical analysis.

Use of SG374 in Tissue Culture

This invention is also directed to the use of SG374 in tissue culture.As used herein, the term “tissue culture” includes plant protoplasts,plant cell tissue culture, cultured microspores, plant calli, plantclumps, somatic embryos, and the like. As used herein, phrases such as“growing the seed” or “grown from the seed” include embryo rescue,isolation of cells from seed for use in tissue culture, as well astraditional growing methods.

Duncan, Williams, Zehr, and Widholm, Planta (1985) 165:322-332 reflectsthat 97% of the plants cultured that produced callus were capable ofplant regeneration. Subsequent experiments with both inbreds and hybridsproduced 91% regenerable callus that produced plants. In a further studyin 1988, Songstad, Duncan & Widholm in Plant Cell Reports (1988),7:262-265 reports several media additions that enhance regenerability ofcallus of two inbred varieties. Other published reports also indicatedthat “nontraditional” tissues are capable of producing somaticembryogenesis and plant regeneration. K. P. Rao, et al., Maize GeneticsCooperation Newsletter, 60:64-65 (1986), refers to somatic embryogenesisfrom glume callus cultures and B. V. Conger, et al., Plant Cell Reports,6:345-347 (1987) indicates somatic embryogenesis from the tissuecultures of maize leaf segments. Thus, it is clear from the literaturethat the state of the art is such that these methods of obtaining plantsare, and were, “conventional” in the sense that they are routinely usedand have a very high rate of success. The recent methods described byLowe et al 2018 (In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology-Plant54:240-252) and references therein further show regenerability andtransformability for any variety of maize can be routine the disclosuresof which are incorporated herein by reference.

Tissue culture of maize, including tassel/anther culture, is describedin U.S. 2002/0062506A1 and European Patent Application, publicationEP0160,390, each of which are incorporated herein by reference for thispurpose. Maize tissue culture procedures are also described in Green andRhodes, “Plant Regeneration in Tissue Culture of Maize,” Maize forBiological Research (Plant Molecular Biology Association,Charlottesville, Va. 1982, at 367-372) and in Duncan, et al., “TheProduction of Callus Capable of Plant Regeneration from Immature Embryosof Numerous Zea Mays Genotypes,” 165 Planta 322-332 (1985). Thus,another aspect of this invention is to provide cells which upon growthand differentiation produce maize plants having the genotype and/orphenotypic characteristics of variety SG374.

Seed Treatments and Cleaning

Another embodiment of this invention is the method of harvesting theseed of the maize variety SG374 as seed for planting. Embodimentsinclude cleaning the seed, treating the seed, and/or conditioning theseed. Cleaning the seed includes removing foreign debris such as weedseed and removing chaff, plant matter, from the seed. Conditioning theseed can include controlling the temperature and rate of dry down andstoring seed in a controlled temperature environment. Seed treatment isthe application of a composition to the seed such as a coating orpowder. Some examples of compositions are insecticides, fungicides,pesticides, antimicrobials, germination inhibitors, germinationpromoters, cytokinins, growth stimulants, beneficial microbials, andnutrients.

To protect and to enhance yield production and trait technologies, seedtreatment options can provide additional crop plan flexibility andcost-effective control against insects, weeds and diseases, therebyfurther enhancing the invention described herein. Seed material can betreated, typically surface treated, with a composition comprisingcombinations of chemical or biological herbicides, herbicide safeners,insecticides, fungicides, germination inhibitors and enhancers,nutrients, plant growth regulators and activators, bactericides,nematicides, avicides and/or molluscicides. These compounds aretypically formulated together with further carriers, surfactants orapplication-promoting adjuvants customarily employed in the art offormulation. The coatings may be applied by impregnating propagationmaterial with a liquid formulation or by coating with a combined wet ordry formulation. Examples of the various types of compounds that may beused as seed treatments are provided in The Pesticide Manual: A WorldCompendium, C. D. S. Tomlin Ed., Published by the British CropProduction Council, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Some seed treatments that may be used on crop seed include, but are notlimited to, one or more of abscisic acid, acibenzolar-S-methyl,avermectin, amitrol, azaconazole, azospirillum, azadirachtin,azoxystrobin, Bacillus spp. (including one or more of cereus, firmus,megaterium, pumilis, sphaericus, subtilis and/or thuringiensis),Bradyrhizobium spp. (including one or more of betae, canariense,elkanii, iriomotense, japonicum, liaonigense, pachyrhizi and/oryuanmingense), captan, carboxin, chitosan, clothianidin, copper,cyazypyr, difenoconazole, etidiazole, fipronil, fludioxonil,fluoxastrobin, fluquinconazole, flurazole, fluxofenim, harpin protein,imazalil, imidacloprid, ipconazole, isoflavenoids,lipo-chitooligosaccharide, mancozeb, manganese, maneb, mefenoxam,metalaxyl, metconazole, myclobutanil, PCN B, penflufen, penicillium,penthiopyrad, permethrine, picoxystrobin, prothioconazole,pyraclostrobin, rynaxypyr, S-metolachlor, saponin, sedaxane, TCMTB,tebuconazole, thiabendazole, thiamethoxam, thiocarb, thiram,tolclofos-methyl, triadimenol, trichoderma, trifloxystrobin,triticonazole and/or zinc. PCNB seed coat refers to EPA registrationnumber 00293500419, containing quintozen and terrazole. TCMTB refers to2-(thiocyanomethylthio)benzothiazole.

Seed varieties and seeds with specific transgenic traits may be testedto determine which seed treatment options and application rates maycomplement such varieties and transgenic traits in order to enhanceyield. For example, a variety with good yield potential but head smutsusceptibility may benefit from the use of a seed treatment thatprovides protection against head smut, a variety with good yieldpotential but cyst nematode susceptibility may benefit from the use of aseed treatment that provides protection against cyst nematode, and soon. Likewise, a variety encompassing a transgenic trait conferringinsect resistance may benefit from the second mode of action conferredby the seed treatment, a variety encompassing a transgenic traitconferring herbicide resistance may benefit from a seed treatment with asafener that enhances the plants resistance to that herbicide, etc.Further, the good root establishment and early emergence that resultsfrom the proper use of a seed treatment may result in more efficientnitrogen use, a better ability to withstand drought and an overallincrease in yield potential of a variety or varieties containing acertain trait when combined with a seed treatment.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

Another embodiment of this invention is the method of harvesting thegrain of the F1 plant of variety SG374 and using the grain in acommodity. Examples of maize grain as a commodity include but are notlimited to oils, meals, flour, starches, syrups, proteins, and sugars.Maize grain is used as human food, livestock feed, and as raw materialin industry. The food uses of maize, in addition to human consumption ofmaize kernels, include both products of dry- and wet-milling industries.The principal products of maize dry milling are grits, meal and flour.The maize wet-milling industry can provide maize starch, maize syrups,and dextrose for food use. Maize oil is recovered from maize germ, whichis a by-product of both dry- and wet-milling industries.

Maize, including both grain and non-grain portions of the plant, is alsoused extensively as livestock feed, primarily for beef cattle, dairycattle, hogs, and poultry.

Industrial uses of maize include production of ethanol, maize starch inthe wet-milling industry and maize flour in the dry-milling industry.The industrial applications of maize starch and flour are based onfunctional properties, such as viscosity, film formation, adhesiveproperties, and ability to suspend particles. The maize starch and flourhave application in the paper and textile industries. Other industrialuses include applications in adhesives, building materials, foundrybinders, laundry starches, explosives, oil-well muds, and other miningapplications.

Plant parts other than the grain of maize are also used in industry: forexample, stalks and husks are made into paper and wallboard and cobs areused for fuel and to make charcoal.

The seed of maize variety SG374, the plant produced from the seed, thehybrid maize plant produced from the crossing of the variety, hybridseed, and various parts of the hybrid maize plant and transgenicversions of the foregoing, can be utilized for human food, livestockfeed, and as a raw material in industry. The same is true forsubstantial derivatives of SG374.

TABLE 1 Morphological Characteristics Information SG374 SG260Characteristic Abrev Units Mean Std Dev Mean Std Dev Flowering Days to50% silk SLK Days Days 67.8 0.8 69.0 0.8 Heat units to 50% silk SLKGDUGDU 1565 26.6 1602 25.0 Days to 50% shed SHD Days 67.4 0.9 69.1 0.8 DaysHeat units to 50% shed SHDGDU GDU 1551 30.0 1604 26.1 Stalk Plant HeightPHT cm 189.0 8.2 182.6 5.5 Ear Height EHT cm 61.3 5.2 56.4 5.6 Braceroot color BRC 1 to 4 2.4 0.5 2.5 0.5 Internode length ITL cm 9.3 0.99.6 1.0 Avg # ears per stalk ERPSTK No. 1.5 0.5 1.1 0.2 Avg # tillersper stalk TLPSTK No. 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.5 Leaf Color (EL+ 2) LFC 1 to 4 3.00.0 3.0 0.0 Length (EL) ELL cm 71.5 2.0 70.5 1.8 Width (EL) ELW cm 9.40.4 8.8 0.4 Sheath pubescence (EL+ 2) SHP 1 to 9 2.1 0.3 2.4 0.5Marginal waves LFMW 1 to 9 3.1 0.6 3.3 0.5 Longitudal creases LFLC 1 to9 2.2 0.4 2.0 0.0 # leaves above top ear LFAEN No. 5.8 0.4 5.9 0.3Adaxial angle (EL+ 2) LFAGL angle 18.7 4.9 17.8 3.5 Tassel Primarybranch # TSPB No. 9.5 1.1 8.9 1.4 Angle spike & prim branch TSBAGL angle11.9 2.8 17.5 4.0 Branch attitude TSBAT 1 to 3 1.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 Length(leaf collar to tip) TSL cm 44.7 1.6 42.5 1.9 Peduncle length TSPL cm26.1 1.8 25.8 1.2 Central spike length TSCSL cm 20.8 1.6 18.6 1.3 Rateamount of pollen POL 0 to 9 5.5 5 Anther color (after sun) ANC 1 to 9 52 Glume color (after sun) GMC 1 to 9 1 1 Glume Ring GMR 1 or 2 1 1 BarGlume or Glume bands GMB 1 or 2 2 1 Ear Unhusked Silk color (3 DaysAfter R1) SKC 1 to 9 2 2 Fresh husk color (25 DAS) HKCF Munsell 5GY4/85GY6/8 Dry husk color (65 DAS) HKCD Munsell 2.5Y7/4 5Y8/4 Ear position(65 DAS) ERP 1 to 3 1.1 0.2 1.0 0.0 Husk tightness (65 DAS) HKT 1 to 96.4 2.1 7.2 0.8 Husk cover at harvest HKL 1 to 4 2.2 0.4 2.4 0.5 Ear Dryand Husked Length ERL cm 15.5 1.2 15.0 0.6 Diameter ERD mm 42.0 1.3 41.72.0 Weight ERWT gm 103.2 17.7 91.4 11.3 # Rows of kernels ERRN No. 15.11.3 15.1 1.7 # Kernels per row ERKR No. 24.7 4.5 22.0 2.5 Rowsidentifiable ERRI 1 or 2 2.0 0.0 2.0 0.0 Row direction/alignment ERRD 1to 3 1.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 Ear taper ERT 1 to 3 2.0 0.0 2.0 0.0 Cob ParametersCob diameter CBD mm 26.3 0.8 26.7 1.3 Cob color CBC 1 to 4 2.0 0.0 3.00.0 Kernel (dried) Length (depth) KNL mm 10.1 0.4 9.9 0.3 Width KNW mm7.6 0.3 7.5 0.3 Thickness KNT mm 4.7 0.3 5.1 1.3 Hard Endosperm colorENDC 1 to 3 2.0 0.0 2.0 0.0 Endosperm type ENDT  1 to 10 3.0 0.0 3.0 0.0100 kernel weight KNWT gm 24.4 1.5 23.7 3.2 Cap color KNCPC 1 to 5 3.00.0 3.0 0.0 Side color KNSC 1 to 5 2.0 0.0 2.0 0.0

TABLE 2 Hybrid Comparisons Entry YLDADJ MST TWT RL SL HA SG16043 215.819 68.9 8.7 8.3 7.0 SG16034 209.7 17.9 64.7 8.0 7.7 5.7 YLDAJD = Yieldas Bu/Ac (adjusted to 15.5% moisture) MST = Moisture at harvest TWT =Test weight SL = Stalk lodging 1-9 score (9 = least lodging) RL = Rootlodging 1-9 score (9 = least lodging) HA = Harvest Appearance 1-9 score(9 = fully intact; intactness of leaves and upper stalks before harvest)

TABLE 3 Hybrid Morphological Characteristics Hybrid SG16043Characteristic Abrev Units Mean Std Dev Flowering Days to 50% silk SLKDays Days 59.5 0.5 Heat units to 50% silk SLKGDU GDU 1363.6 14.8 SHDDays to 50% shed Days Days 58.2 0.5 Heat units to 50% shed SHDGDU GDU1327.5 13.3 Stalk Plant Height PHT cm 243.0 7.1 Ear Height EHT cm 84.55.6 Brace root color BRC 1 to 4 2.4 0.5 Internode length ITL cm 13.7 1.0Avg # ears per stalk ERPSTK No. 1.4 0.5 Avg # tillers per stalk TLPSTKNo. 0.6 0.5 Leaf Color (EL + 2) LFC 1 to 4 3.0 0.0 Length (EL) ELL cm78.2 3.7 Width (EL) ELW cm 10.6 0.6 Sheath pubescence (EL + 2) SHP 1 to9 6.2 0.6 Marginal waves LFMW 1 to 9 3.6 0.5 Longitudal creases LFLC 1to 9 3.1 0.6 # leaves above top ear LFAEN No. 6.7 0.5 Adaxial angle(EL + 2) LFAGL angle 27.5 4.9 Tassel Primary branch # TSPB No. 11.1 1.3Angle spike & prim branch TSBAGL angle 36.3 5.4 Branch attitude TSBAT 1to 3 1.0 0.0 Length (leaf collar to tip) TSL cm 48.8 2.7 Peduncle lengthTSPL cm 24.7 1.7 Central spike length TSCSL cm 25.9 1.8 Rate amount ofpollen POL 0 to 9 7 Anther color (after sun) ANC 1 to 9 5 Glume color(after sun) GMC 1 to 9 1 Glume Ring GMR 1 or 2 1 Bar Glume or Glumebands GMB 1 or 2 2 Ear Unhusked Silk color (3 Days After R1) SKC 1 to 93 Fresh husk color (25 DAS) HKCF Munsell 5GY5/4 Dry husk color (65 DAS)HKCD Munsell 2.5Y8/2 Ear position (65 DAS) ERP 1 to 3 1.2 0.5 Husktightness (65 DAS) HKT 1 to 9 4.4 1.4 Husk cover at harvest HKL 1 to 42.0 0.2 Ear Dry and Husked Length ERL cm 17.3 1.3 Diameter ERD mm 49.12.4 Weight ERWT gm 177.4 27.8 # Rows of kernels ERRN No. 16.1 1.2 #Kernels per row ERKR No. 30.5 3.3 Rows identifiable ERRI 1 or 2 2.0 0.0Row direction/alignment ERRD 1 to 3 1.0 0.0 Ear taper ERT 1 to 3 2.0 0.0Cob Parameters Cob diameter CBD mm 27.5 1.7 Cob color CBC 1 to 4 3.0 0.0Kernel (dried) Length (depth) KNL mm 12.7 0.7 Width KNW mm 8.2 0.4Thickness KNT mm 4.1 1.0 Hard Endosperm color ENDC 1 to 3 2.0 0.0Endosperm type ENDT 1 to 10 3.0 0.0 100 kernel weight KNWT gm 33.2 4.3Cap color KNCPC 1 to 5 3.0 0.0 Side color KNSC 1 to 5 2.0 0.0

DEPOSITS

Applicant has made a deposit of at least 625 seeds of Maize VarietySG374 with the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), 10801 UniversityBoulevard, Manassas, Va. 20110-2209, USA, with ATCC Deposit No.PTA-125793. The seeds deposited with the ATCC on Mar. 5, 2019 wereobtained from the seed of the variety maintained by AgriHorizon, Inc.DBA Seitec Genetics 120 E. Deborah Avenue, Fremont, Nebr. 68002 sinceprior to the filing date of this application. Access to this seed willbe available during the pendency of the application to the Commissionerof Patents and Trademarks and persons determined by the Commissioner tobe entitled thereto upon request. Upon allowance of any claims in theapplication, the Applicant will make the deposit available to the publicpursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 1.808. This deposit of the Maize Variety SG374will be maintained in the ATCC depository, which is a public depository,for a period of 30 years, or 5 years after the most recent request, orfor the enforceable life of the patent, whichever is longer, and will bereplaced if it becomes nonviable during that period. Additionally,applicant has or will satisfy all of the requirements of 37 C.F.R. §§1.801-1.809, including providing an indication of the viability of thesample upon deposit. Applicant has no authority to waive anyrestrictions imposed by law on the transfer of biological material orits transportation in commerce. Applicant does not waive anyinfringement of rights granted under this patent or under the PlantVariety Protection Act (7 USC 2321 et seq.).

The foregoing invention has been described in detail by way ofillustration and example for purposes of clarity and understanding. Asis readily apparent to one skilled in the art, the foregoing are onlysome of the methods and compositions that illustrate the embodiments ofthe foregoing invention. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art that variations, changes, modifications and alterations maybe applied to the compositions and/or methods described herein withoutdeparting from the true spirit, concept and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A seed, plant, plant part, or plant cell ofinbred maize variety SG374, representative seed of the variety havingbeen deposited under ATCC accession number PTA-125793.
 2. The plant partof claim 1, wherein the plant part is an ovule or pollen.
 3. An F1hybrid maize seed produced by crossing the plant or plant part of claim1 with a different maize plant.
 4. An F1 hybrid maize plant or plantpart produced by growing the maize seed of claim 3, wherein the plantpart comprises at least one cell of the F1 hybrid maize plant.
 5. Amethod for producing a second maize plant, the method comprisingapplying plant breeding techniques to the F1 plant or plant part ofclaim 4 to produce the second maize plant.
 6. A method for producing asecond maize plant or plant part, the method comprising doubling haploidseed generated from a cross of the plant or plant part of claim 4 withan inducer variety, thereby producing the second maize plant or plantpart.
 7. A method of making a commodity plant product comprising silage,starch, fat, syrup or protein, the method comprising processing themaize plant or plant part of claim 4, thereby producing the commodityplant product.
 8. A method of producing a maize plant derived from thevariety SG374 comprising: a) crossing the plant of claim 1 with itselfor a second plant to produce progeny seed; b) growing the progeny seedto produce a progeny plant and crossing the progeny plant with itself ora different plant to produce further progeny seed; and c) repeating step(b) for at least one additional generation to produce a maize plantderived from the variety SG374.
 9. The derived maize plant produced bythe method of claim 8, wherein the derived maize plant has all of themorphological and physiological characteristics as inbred maize varietySG374 when grown under the same environmental conditions.
 10. A methodcomprising generating a molecular marker profile from nucleic acidsisolated from the seed, plant, plant part, or plant cell of claim
 1. 11.A converted seed, plant, plant part or plant cell of inbred maizevariety SG374, representative seed of the maize variety SG374 havingbeen deposited under ATCC accession number PTA-125793, wherein theconverted seed, plant, plant part or plant cell comprises a locusconversion or edited genome, and wherein the plant or a plant grown fromthe converted seed, plant part or plant cell comprises the locusconversion or edited genome and otherwise has all of the morphologicaland physiological characteristics of maize variety SG374 when grownunder the same environmental conditions.
 12. The converted seed, plant,plant part or plant cell of claim 11, wherein the locus conversion oredited genome confers a property selected from the group consisting ofmale sterility, site-specific recombination, abiotic stress tolerance,altered phosphorus, altered antioxidants, altered fatty acids, alteredessential amino acids, altered carbohydrates, herbicide tolerance,insect resistance, disease resistance, and enhanced performance.
 13. Amaize seed produced by crossing the plant or plant part of claim 11 witha different maize plant.
 14. A hybrid maize plant or plant part producedby growing the seed of claim 13, wherein the plant part comprises atleast one cell of the hybrid maize plant.
 15. A method for producing asecond maize plant, the method comprising applying plant breedingtechniques to the plant or plant part of claim 14 to produce the secondmaize plant.
 16. A method for producing a second maize plant or plantpart, the method comprising doubling haploid seed generated from a crossof the plant or plant part of claim 14 with an inducer variety, therebyproducing the second maize plant or plant part.
 17. A method of making acommodity plant product comprising silage, starch, fat, syrup orprotein, the method comprising processing the maize plant or plant partof claim 14, thereby producing the commodity plant product.
 18. A methodof producing a maize plant derived from the variety SG374, comprising:a) crossing the plant of claim 11 with itself or a second plant toproduce progeny seed; b) growing the progeny seed to produce a progenyplant and crossing the progeny plant with itself or a different plant toproduce further progeny seed; and c) repeating step (b) for at least oneadditional generation to produce a maize plant derived from the varietySG374.
 19. The derived maize plant produced by the method of claim 18,wherein the derived maize plant has all of the morphological andphysiological characteristics as inbred maize variety SG374 when grownunder the same environmental conditions.
 20. A method comprisinggenerating a molecular marker profile from nucleic acids isolated fromthe seed, plant, plant part, or plant cell of claim 11.